We often hear people talk about why we should forgive but rarely do they explain the how. Forgiveness! I’ll be the first to admit that forgiveness is sometimes a struggle for me. I just completed seminary school and during my studies, every time we had to randomly pick a topic in class…I would pull forgiveness. But, I firmly believe that all things always work together for my highest good and greatest joy and this journey of forgiveness has taught me some things about life, myself, and allowing this Divine Energy and Essence that I call God access into the inner most parts of myself. The Rev. Johnnie Colemon, used to say…lessons are not taught they are caught. Which means experience is the greatest teacher.

So what is forgiveness…have you heard that it’s to give for…for example…give up hate for love...give up fear for faith. That’s a simple way of explaining forgiveness.

We are born whole, free and absolutely perfect. Yet oftentimes, during the course of our lives, we get shut down in that natural process.

Imagine when you were a toddler, expressing yourself with creativity and love while doing what comes naturally through curiosity and exploration, such as singing loudly or shrieking in pure joy. Then, because you happened to be in a place where behavior such as this is deemed inappropriate (such as a church service or public location), a parent or adult steps in and scolds you. Confused by this reaction, you begin to learn that being your authentic self will get you in trouble and so you begin to shut down that part of yourself. You shove that joyful part of yourself to the side, questioning:

“If I’m not supposed to be who I am naturally and authentically, then who am I supposed to be being? Who am I supposed to be, if I’m not supposed to be me?”

Is your house on fire? I agree with Greta Thunberg when she said,

"I want you to act as if your house is on fire, because it is."

Climate change is just one issue. How are we going to overcome all the epic challenges when it looks like everything is on fire!

James “Gus” Speth - Author of 7 books and a champion of fundamental systemic change with The Next System Project offers some insights,

“I used to think that top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that thirty years of good science could address these problems. I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.”

I believe complicated problems do not require complicated solutions.

Every problem holds the answer to its solution.

Within scientific circles, high carbon dioxide levels are accepted as significantly contributing to climate change. While scientist struggle to develop carbon capture technology, a perfect technology already exists, it is called a TREE.

Planting a tree is a simple solution you can do today to improve our environment. The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees campaign is one coordinated effort toward a global goal of planting a Trillion Trees.

 In August 2017 I was back in the Amazon rain forest on a Pachamama Alliance trip,  I was paddling a two-person kayak up the Capahuari River near the Kapawi Lodge with a woman who went simply by the name “Z”.  

She broke the silence. “There’s something swimming in the river.”

“Probably that tapir some of the Achuar saw near here yesterday.”

 Z turned to me. “No,” she whispered. “It’s a jaguar!”  

I froze, my paddle suspended above the kayak. My heart raced.  Slowly, cautiously, I lowered the paddle to rest on the kayak and leaned forward to peer around her.

A band of white water cut across the river, the wake of something swimming. I raised a hand to shade my eyes and followed the white water. Then I saw it: the black-spotted tawny-colored  head and shoulders of a full-grown jaguar, just yards ahead of us, swimming to the river bank. Our momentum was taking us rapidly toward it. I grabbed the paddle and stopped the canoe’s forward motion.

Speechless, we sat there, still, quiet, watching.

Without breaking its rhythm, the jaguar turned and looked at us; then it continued to the shore, climbed out of the water, shook itself, gave us another glance, bounded up the embankment, and disappeared into the tangle of foliage.

Deep Breaths…

Take a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Just breathe. Those three phrases are ones we’ve all heard before throughout our lives, and with good reason. Breathing is not just the way take in oxygen to keep living, it is also one of the most powerful tools we have for dealing with negative energy. However, there’s a big difference between the negative energy we experience throughout our day and deep-seated emotional or psychological trauma.

How does a person get traumatized?

Trauma can occur from any number of things that we experience throughout our lives. According to teachtrauma.com, the most common types of trauma are the following:

• Child Maltreatment/Neglect
• Domestic Violence
• War Related Trauma
• Medical Trauma
• Traumatic Loss
• Natural Disasters
• Sexual Assault.

There are some basic symptoms of trauma that you may be able to notice. People who have experienced trauma may appear shaken or disoriented, and may not respond to conversation in a normal way. They may also appear withdrawn or not fully present in the moment, even when speaking.

It's never pleasant when people in your life, whether they are family or friends, people you love, or maybe just an acquaintance are spiteful towards you. Maybe they attack you, they gossip about you, they're hurtful towards you and no mater what it is, it's painful. 

It's painful and natural as human beings to want to get revenge to pay them back, to show them, to prove to them, to crush them.

But realize, when someone does something negative to you, when someone trespasses against you, to simply return the same energy is to simply bring yourself down to that level and nothing ever gets truly resolved by going down to that level. 

Not only do you pull yourself down to that level, you keep yourself stuck. 

It may sound strange and improbable, but this short article explains how it’s possible to actually change your past, and let go of any painful experience that wants to haunt you. The secret lies in awakening a little-known skill that every person is given at birth, but that few ever realize they have: the ability to start life over any time we choose.

It’s true: today is the first day of our life; but this truth is only of use to us if we know how to turn its power into something practical that can free us from the painful regrets and disappointments carried over from our past.

It may seem at first like starting life over every moment is a daunting and impossible task, but there is a simple method of bringing this power within our ready grasp. Here’s how we get started winning our new life: we must learn to allow every movement in our life – every unwanted memory, every emotion, every thought, and every relationship we have with whatever moves through us – to have its own life.

It’s time to crack your money codes.

Have you ever felt unworthy or unwanted, or experienced feelings of depression, sadness or anxiety?

These codes easily have us playing dangerous games that often result in things like unfulfilled relationships, depression and mindless addiction.

And when these ego mind codes or feelings occur, your confidence goes out the door, replaced by feelings of unworthiness and low self-esteem.  The result is suffering on every level. The body, mind and soul shatter when you lose connection to the peace and trust codes that facilitate forgiveness.

No matter how badly you currently feel about yourself, you can heal your shame and feel excited about your life.

“I have no value.”
“I’m not good enough.”
“I don’t like myself.”
“If they really knew me, they wouldn’t like me.”
“I don’t deserve to be loved by God.”
“I’m not important.”
“My inner child doesn’t deserve to be loved by me.”

I hear this theme over and over from my clients. Shame is a major issue for many people.

Shame comes from two different places:

• Others shaming us
• Shaming ourselves.

Shame from Others

As a child, Torre was abused in many ways by her father. Her father used to tell her that she was ugly, that she shouldn’t have been born, that she was garbage. He would hit her with a belt with no provocation, and often touched her inappropriately. Of course, she grew up believing that she had no value.

Are you afraid of some condition in your life? Here’s a life-transforming secret: that seemingly scary condition, whatever it may be, is not the problem. It is your reaction that is fearful. This is why if you will become conscious of your condition instead of afraid of it, you will change forever your relationship with fear.

It is only within this special kind of inner-relationship that there is real safety, because now you are interacting with fear in an entirely new way. You are no longer letting it dictate to you how to act or what to do. Instead, you are aware of the fear. You are learning to quietly observe and study it. And, each day as you practice this, you discover something new about the strange and shaky nature of your own fearful reactions. They begin to lose their power over you.

Why? Because you are at last seeing these reactions for what they have always been: unintelligent mechanical forces. You are slowly becoming stronger than they are because by seeing them as they are—not as they would have you see them—you have helped yourself to climb above and outside of their influence. This self-insight is the difference between trembling through your life and being in command of it.