Forgive and Forgiven
The Lasting Health Report
Forgive and Forgiven
True forgiveness begins as a quiet willingness,
not a doing, but an undoing,
a softening in the field of the heart.
A readiness to see what until now
could not be seen.
There are those I have not forgiven,
and there are those who have not forgiven me.
Between these two currents,
a kind of tension hums beneath the surface of my life.
It shapes my voice.
It shapes how I hold my breath.
It shapes how I close my heart just a little —
to stay safe.
To forgive is to become conscious of this holding.
To feel the cost of keeping it.
And then, to let Love do what Love does —
restore flow where life has been blocked.
Forgiveness does not erase what happened.
It unhooks me from the meaning I made of it.
It asks for my radical honesty,
the vulnerability to see my part in the story,
and the humility to stop defending it.
No longer will I swallow the burning coals of betrayal.
No longer will I serve this life sentence.
No longer will I be responsible for another’s beliefs.
No longer will I be the person I thought I was
The distance between “you” and “me” dissolves.
There’s only what’s true, and it is so simple:
I am as you are, and we are both being lived by the same Love.
Forgiveness moves both ways at once —
as I forgive, I am forgiven.
A single act of release that reverberates in two directions,
undoing the loop of pain that has kept us bound.
To forgive and be forgiven
is to come back into coherence with Life itself.
I wonder how close am I now
to forgivenessLasting Health is lifelong wellbeing — the capacity to heal, grow, and transform, especially through life’s challenges.
The Lasting Health Report is a practical guide to creating Wellbeing — bite-size bits of information and inspiration for a joyful healthy life.
The Lasting Health Program is a Wellbeing Curriculum for those ready to reset, regenerate, and reclaim their True Healthful Self. If you are curious and want to explore further, please reach out. 📧 Email: livingmedicine@protonmail.com
How lovely--did one of you write it? I was so glad to read that you had 14 people particpating, a perfect number! my route to forgiveness has been, as you know, a little rougher than the loving melting you describe. Softening follows when my rage and hurt are fully allowed and respected. Perhaps it won't always be like that for me...