Thursday, January 11, 2007

One Last Gift!

FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING JANUARY 8, 2007


INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:
"Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives."
~ from "The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark" by Lawana Blackwell

A DIVINE RESOLUTION!

Welcome to 2007! Now that you've had a week to get into the swing of things, have you made (or broken) any New Year's Resolutions yet? Here's an idea to help simplify your resolve. Forget about long (or even short) lists of ambitions. Just put a note on your bathroom mirror or your computer screen that reads "FORGIVE."

You can first begin by forgiving yourself, for whatever reasons you made your resolutions in the first place. Resolving to lose weight? Start by forgiving yourself for overeating or neglecting to exercise. Then develop your plan for weight loss. You can't move forward if you're angry at yourself.

Next, concentrate on forgiveness in the workplace, at home, next door or across the street. In all disagreements, look for the middle ground, and you're likely to find it. Instead of placing blame, search yourself for accountability. Whatever offense you've suffered, whatever feelings have been hurt, it's critical to forgive and move on, instead of nurturing that pain for untold days, months or years to come.

The New Year gives you ample opportunity to step up with a gesture of good will - a card, a small gift, a phone call just to say "let bygones be bygones." Look how quickly little kids get over their hurt - they forgive because they literally forget about it in very little time. Follow their example.

Perhaps the hardest but most important thing to understand about forgiveness is that it doesn't even really matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven, because forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. It's not always about making the other person feel better about what happened. It's about allowing yourself to grow and finally move forward without pain or regret. Resolutions just don't get any better than that. Happy New Year!

posted by The Office Grapevine at 5:16 PM  

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