About 20 years ago I hit an emotional brick wall. I lost my dream home, my life savings, my fiance' and my daughter disowned me. Without going into the emotional messiness of what led up to that difficult time, I'll just say that it was a result of a lifetime of negative self-limitation and co-dependency. When I lost most of what was important to me at the time, I dropped like a lead weight into a deep hole of depression. For months I only left the house for necessities. I didn't answer the phone. I didn't open the mail. I would stay in bed all day. I had nothing to inspire me, nothing hopeful to see in my future.
A friend introduced me to an ancient process of forgiveness that only takes 7 days. I resisted forgiving myself at first, but then for some reason I did it. It worked. Almost like magic I turned a corner and became an awakened woman within a couple of weeks. I was able to see how I had created the person I had become. And since I created her with my thoughts, I decided to create another version. It sounds so simple, but it was very profound. I have continued with those forgiveness processes on various people, and myself again, over these past 20 years. Forgiveness simply means “to let go”. I did and it feels great!
(author of "The Other F Word: 7 Days to Forgiving Anyone" http://amzn.to/1wrVBoh)