I do believe that everything that happens to us happens by invitation only. I feel insulted, slighted, embarrassed? What did I do originally that set that in motion? I'd not believe that if it hadn't been set down as fact by Gautama the Buddha, Jesus the Christ, Lao Tzu, Bob Dylan...all the biggies.
The reason it is so important to believe that unto walking-around-acceptance of it is that our minds will be on the attack of the perceived insulter until we let it go. And it is next-door to impossible to let it go by our unaided will. If we do not let go our harsh thinking about her, our revengeful wanting, we will never be free of him. Every resentful thought, every resentful plot to set her straight...it's all the same. It is our judgment on us...which feeds it into more frenzy.
We can think, we can believe, we have "forgiven" an insult, the insulter, but until we take concrete action giving over to that person, our thoughts will remain the same...resentful. We will not know peace and that insulter's name will be in our thoughts as the very cause of our woes...s/he is not, of course, it is our ego, seeking victory.
We can come to understand this...indeed, we must...but the crucial step that we need to take is still missing. This is when we give over to God, asking for His will, not ours, to be done...whatever His will might be. For, and I know this from experience, if we come up with a self-determined objective for showing our forgiveness, we will be legislating for ourselves...it will not bring peace, it will bring still more feeling slighted, insulted, embarrassed.
So the crucial step is...yet again...surrender. And the result, of course, is peace of mind and heart.
Thank You.
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