happiness | Alisa Battaglia

Forgiveness
Disconnecting from the Past
By Alisa Battaglia

When we have surrendered our expectations, softened our hearts and found the gift in our wounding experiences we are ready to activate the heart through forgiveness. Forgiveness may not be easy, but it will make us feel better by freeing our negativity and increasing our self control. The role of forgiveness is essential in our healing passage because it disconnects us from the grippings of the past and gives us confidence to get through other tough situations without harboring resentment, panicking or losing control. Forgiving does not mean that we have to forget what was done to us, or suddenly befriend or approve of someone who has trespassed against us. It does mean that we release our aggressors of any lingering resentments and also to forgive ourselves from mis-takes so that we may finally move forward to be wholly present in our lives.

As we evolve and develop a greater depth of understanding there is a natural willingness to engage in forgiveness. The very act of forgiveness heals, constructs bridges and breaks down barriers in building right relationships in families, groups, communities, nations and humanity—the world of the soul. It is understood that without forgiveness there can be no authentic relationships unless separative and narrow thinking are relinquished.

Forgiveness is not only a charitable act or benevolent gesture that we bestow or withhold at times. True forgiveness is actually an act that we do for ourselves to let go of the burden that hurt brings when we hold on. For example, we first experience a transgression as a loss in peace, happiness and separation that causes us to build defenses to keep a person out of our lives. Holding such a burden usurps our vital energy and we suffer in myriad ways. When we love ourselves we do what we need to do to liberate ourselves from the bondage of feeling separate, otherwise we trap ourselves in the ignorance that we are NOT from the same One Life and Source and we trespass against ourselves. True forgiveness helps to bind the spiritual realms ever closer to humanity. It is the recognition of our Oneness and the remembrance of our True Self as immortal spirit.

Both religious and psychological traditions have long extolled the virtues of forgiveness in the promotion of psychological, relationship and physical health. In fact, research studies conducted through the Stanford Forgiveness Projects have shown forgiveness to reduce anger, hurt, depression and stress, which leads to greater feelings of optimism, hope, compassion and self confidence. Holding onto blame, judgment and expectation keeps our wounds open, while only forgiveness heals.

The four stages of forgiveness found in Clarissa Pinkola-Estes’s book, “Women who Run with the Wolves” is an alchemical recipe that catharts us through the forgiveness process. It provides an actual capacity to disconnect from the object of our attention imbuing universal wisdom.

to forego- to leave it alone
to forebear – to abstain from punishing
to forget – to aver from memory, to refuse to dwell
to forgive – to abandon the debt

What will you forgive in yourself today?

Flower Me Imagery Journey of Free Will

By Alisa Battaglia, B.D, C.HT, EFT, TH

Imagine yourself as a flower seed uplifted by the kind energy of the wind, your host in seeking to pollinate upon a fertile ground. Imagine the optimal place where you would like to implant your roots. Where you would get plenty of fresh air, sunshine, rain, communion with other flowers and plants, shelter from the harsh weather and mostly, where you can expand your growing body without confinement. Imagine such a place and ask the wind to settle you there.

How does it feel to be upon a new foundation? Do you feel estranged or do you feel content to build your life amongst your place of choice? What kind of flower will you be? How wide and high will you grow? Will you nourish yourself in the sun building a strong body or will you cower from the light building a weak body? When you have determined who and how you wish to grow, imagine settling your roots deep into the earth drawing unto you the rich minerals to sustain your strength so that you may rise out of the earth to greet the sun.

Have you broken ground…a sprout of life? Imagine your roots moving deeper into the earth to found your growing body so that you may rise higher towards the sun. Imagine the first unfurling of your leaf, the first outward expression of your unfolding beauty. How do you hold your glorious stem? Are you bent over or are you balanced and poised? Imagine still many unfurling leaves…what color and what shape and texture are they? What kind of insects do you attract? Does your posture call forth a healthy repose that repels insects to chew on your lustrous leaves or do you stand unprotected as their host?

You know that a strong stem becomes hardy in harsh environing conditions and so you draw your roots deeper into the soil to cement your foundation. Having strived the season of experience you feel strong and balanced to flower forth. Imagine the bud of your being flowering unto the root of your experience. What holds the center of your petals? Are you one flower or do you give birth to many? How do you receive life? Do you give landing to butterflies, ladybugs and surrender to the work of the bees?

How brightly have you shone and how boldly do you grow? Are you steadfast in your root creating a colony of flowers or have you withered and died within a season of expression?

The journey of your imaginary flower’s life is a creation of your own life. Implant good thoughts, action and deeds in life and the possibilities become endless!