Not forgiving someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die

So when a long-term friend, one I had known through most of my childhood and into my adulthood did something that was nowhere near any definition of friendship, I was really stung.

I have never been one to make friends easily. Acquintances? Easy as 1,2,3, but close personal friends? Always took me so much time. 

So when a long-term friend, one I had known through most of my childhood and into my adulthood did something that was nowhere near any definition of friendship, I was really stung.

And I spent so much time agonising about it, wondering how she could be so callous. I walked around feeling wronged and anytime her name was mentioned, I would feel a deep dark ache somewhere, and hoped that she was as miserable about it as I was.

Well, she wasn’t. She was going about her life unbothered, and probably not even thinking that she had wronged me at all. And seeing that reminded me of something that my father always said to us when we were younger.

That it is better to be happy than right.  I realised that this particular situation was stealing my joy, and besides losing a friend, I was also becoming a bitter person. And it was time to stop the nonsense.

We have all been wronged. Right now, you can probably name a few people who hurt you deeply. People whose names you recall with a lot of anger and hurt. And you think about it a lot.

Trying to make sense of it. What if you found out that they do not even spare a thought of you?That they moved on with their lives, yet you obsess about them and their actions? Sadly, that is the case in most situations. Feel the hurt and anger then resolve to let it go.

Forgive them. Forgiving them is being kind to yourself, more for your benefit than theirs. Because they then cease to have any hold over you.

You know that you have truly forgiven someone when seeing them or thinking of them doesn’t arouse negative emotions anymore. That is a sure sign of freedom. Go out and be free.