Authors: Iyanla Vanzant
I forgive myself for judging men as not
I forgive myself for judging men for
I forgive myself for judging men for not
– I FORGIVE MYSELF FOR BELIEVING –
EXAMPLE
I forgive myself for believing it is not safe for me to trust the men I work with.
I forgive myself for believing men should
I forgive myself for believing men should not
I forgive myself for believing men always
I forgive myself for believing men never
– T
APPING
S
EQUENCE
–
Review Basic
Tapping Sequence
Guidelines.
– R
EFLECTIONS
–
You cannot forgive just once, forgiveness is a daily practice.
—S
ONIA
R
UMZI
I want the peace of God. The peace of God is everything I want.
The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life. An unpeaceful mind cannot hear God. Any unpeaceful feeling is the indicator that what I am thinking is forgivable. Only false ideas disturb my mind, obstructing my natural peace. Let me remember I am not threatened by what I see, but by minds whose thoughts are the images I perceive.
—P
RAYER FOR
A C
OURSE IN
M
IRACLES
W
ORKBOOK
L
ESSON
227
– Forgiveness Friend Story by Almasi Wilcots –
M
y lesson in forgiveness came when I chose to leave a 23-year marriage. For more years than I care to admit, I would move through my days making every possible effort at being wife and mother of the year. I worked long hours as the cook, housekeeper, laundress, driver, handywoman, and, of course, primary caregiver for the children. I felt like I was dying inside while acting like everything was all right. I blamed him, the husband-father, for everything! Looking back, I realize it was I who overstayed my welcome. I was complete with the relationship six months into the marriage, but I convinced myself that I had to stay because we had a dream that we wanted to realize, although his dream and my dream were completely different.
Then I told myself I had to stay for the children. I had five of them along the way. They, I told myself, needed the love and security of having a father and an intact family. The truth is, more often than not I felt depleted and powerless because I gave him all of my power. I gave him the power to choose, to change, and to do what felt right for me. He made all of the choices, which made me mad. He decided the direction for our family and finances, which was a continuous source of frustration for me. When it came to most things regarding the children and our family, there was only one way to be considered—his way! I went along with it all until I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
When I found the strength and courage to leave, I left everything and everyone. I left him, the children, the house, and the bank account. I left with not much more than I had on my back. I guess you could say that I was angry, but that would be the nice way to say it. I just wanted to breathe and live and make some choices for my life and myself. I wanted to find new ways to spend my time.
After doing all of this for a very short time, I began to feel alive again. I began to feel as if I had some freedom and some control in my life. Boy, was I mistaken! As the days and weeks passed, I found myself still blaming him for most of what went wrong. When things didn’t go the way I wanted, I blamed him. When my plans did not seem to come together, I blamed him. It didn’t take me long to realize that he was still the center of my life. In fact, he was still very much in control of what I did and how I did it. I needed HELP!
I
BLAMED HIM, THE HUSBAND-FATHER FOR EVERYTHING! LOOKING BACK, I REALIZE IT WAS I WHO OVERSTAYED MY WELCOME
.
I had heard about this thing called forgiveness. I had seen it mentioned in several self-help books. The only forgiveness I knew about was in the kind reserved for the confessional: “Father, forgive me for I have sinned.” In this case, I could not see that what I had done required forgiveness. I just wanted to be free. So instead of forgiveness, I set an intention. I had learned all about them in a workshop. I put my intention on the bedroom wall so that I would see it and say it every morning and night. It was my intention to experience and express love, peace, joy, fun, and an abundance of every good thing. Little did I know that forgiveness was the direct path to fulfillment of that very intention. I said, “Let me give forgiveness a try.”