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Exercises & Meditations

These exercises meditations are designed to supplement the book, The Power of Forgiveness: A Guide to Healing and Wholeness, Chapter 3.

Guidelines for Practice

Create a safe space. Make a time for this practice when you can be alone without interruption. This is important because you will want to come out of the exercise purposefully so that you feel integrated and grounded. The space should be quiet and facilitate an experience of safety and comfort.

Don’t judge or evaluate your experience. One of the reasons we resist experiencing our emotions is the fear that we will fall apart. This doesn’t happen when we experience our feelings; it happens when we judge them. When we tell ourselves we shouldn’t feel a certain way or something is wrong, we shift the experience from our hearts to our heads. This not only stops the healing process, but it can also cause us to react adversely to it. If you find yourself thinking about how you feel, gently refocus on your heart and redirect your mind to observing how you are feeling. Become a neutral observer to the sensations in your body. Remember that feelings are never wrong, so honor them. They are there to teach you something you need to know.

Take time to release the feelings and practice self-care.

Heart Activation Meditation

This is a 5-minute meditation that can be done every day for best results. It is designed to reconnect us with our experience of love. Love is the healing force in forgiveness. Having a capacity to experience it in the body builds the foundation for further exercises. Do this meditation until you can access the feelings of love with ease.

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Emotional Awareness Meditation

This 10-minute meditation should be done every day as you move into the forgiveness process. It is designed to strengthen our ability to experience the suffering we have been holding onto in non-forgiveness with structure and relative ease. This ability is healing in the most literal sense. We feel what we feel without judgment and in the presence of love. As we do this, the painful emotions transform into compassion and gratitude.

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In addition to creating a safe space and refraining from judgment, let yourself experience the sensations of pain, as well as the sadness, anger, shame, or resentment that bubble up to the surface behind the physical reactions. We all hold our pain in different parts of the body, but you will likely experience the feelings in your throat, chest, solar plexus, or stomach. It may radiate throughout your body. It may manifest as an agitation or anxious feeling, or it may simply feel like muscular tension. The physical reaction is a learned response to protect us from experiencing the suffering. This protection served its purpose, but it is now time to allow our suffering to manifest so that we can release it. When you’re ready to let go of the feelings, you can start forgiving the perpetrator or yourself, and replacing the pain with self-love.

Forgiveness Journal Template

Journaling is an integral part of the forgiveness process. You can use this template as it is presented, or you can use it as a guideline to create a personalized bound journal. Take time to make it yours. Use tabs or labels for each section. Even if the purpose of a section is not initially clear, follow the structure, and it will become clear as you move forward through the process.

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The Power of Forgiveness Book Cover

Learn the power and purpose of forgiveness to realize our true strength in the absence of fear and the illusion of victimhood.

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