The Reason that we need to Forgive

Learning to forgive others is something which I wrestled with for quite a long time. I was the type person who would hold a grudge for years if I had to, and my favorite saying was: “I’ll get even if it takes a thousand years.” This attitude didn’t help me at all except that I thought it helped me to maintain some sort of personal sense of justice. The negative emotions which I carried around with me affected my overall attitude and made me a person that others didn’t desire to be associated with. My conversation was always about some imagined or real injustice which someone had committed on me. To be perfectly honest people just didn’t want to hear it.

The bible says that if you don’t forgive others God won’t forgive you. I really believe that the reason that he won’t forgive you is that whenever he comes close to you he smells the garbage that you are holding in the form of negative emotions and he can’t stand to hang around the stink.

Whoever is right or wrong is not the point when it comes to learning to forgive. Whatever was done is done and unless you can turn back the hands of time there is absolutely nothing that you can do to erase it. So the bottom line is that you just have to deal with it and move on. It is what it is so deal with it.

Holding on to negative emotions serve to hinder you and keep you from reaching your true potential. The negative emotions are like weights to a sprinter. They don’t help at all. You need to drop the weights so that you can pick up speed. Don’t allow these things to stop you. Don’t allow betrayal or hurt to overcome you. Your attention needs to be on the goals that you want to achieve not old problems which have nothing to do with anything. This thought makes me remember the famous Kentucky feud which had been going on for many, many years. When someone asked one of the combatants why they were fighting he couldn’t even remember what the fight was about or when it began. Old hurts are the same type of scenario. The person who hurt you has probably forgotten about it and is living their life. Why should it continue to bother you?

Remember that you are not the only person who has been wronged by others. I’ll bet you everything that I will ever have that there are people out there who have had far worse experiences than you and didn’t allow the situation to bother them so why should you?

Nothing can hurt you in life until you decide that you will allow it to. You are in control of your mind and you need to decide the terms of your life. Anger can’t take hold in your mind unless you allow it to have a space. Bitterness will have to keep moving unless you provide a campsite. You have the capability to be in control so you need to take control.

You may have to deal with one negative emotion at a time but you need to be honest and identify the place that you give to negative feelings before you can overcome them. One thing that I try to remember is to have an opposite reaction to the one that the bad situation attempts to dictate to you. If a bad situation makes you feel like crying you should try to laugh instead. I remember a stressful work situation which we were in when I was in the military. We were all tense when one of the Sergeants cracked the corniest jokes ever told. It worked because it made us all laugh and even though it didn’t change the reality it helped us to deal with it in a more relaxed manner. Riceland Enterprises

Cedric Rice is the founder of Riceland Enterprises, which is composed of several different business ventures. This company is currently located in Georgia.
Riceland Enterprisesof several web sites that Mr. Rice owns and operates which is oriented towards consumers along with Military Ring Express, and Fragrance Oil Express