Forgiveness Quotes to Help You Let Go of the Past
Forgiveness is often defined as an individual, voluntary internal process of letting go of feelings and thoughts of resentment, bitterness, anger, and the need for vengeance and retribution toward someone who we believe has wronged us, including ourselves.
There is strong research demonstrating that engaging in forgiveness reduces the cortisol circulating in your body, leading to many benefits, including lower blood pressure, cholesterol and heart attack risk, and better sleep. Forgiveness also helps you to regulate your stress response and reduce your overall level of anxiety and depression.
There’s also research showing that forgiveness increases happiness in the relationship where you offered forgiveness and beyond. I think this is because forgiveness often requires soul searching, and that process can help you be more present in other relationships.
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses.
Many of us would probably agree that forgiveness is easy to say but often not so easy to do. Being mistreated whether intentional or unintentional, leaves us feeling hurt and dissappointed. I often think about God and the very many times I have made a mistake or done something that may have hurt or dissapointed HIM.. and how HE has continually forgiven me, knowing I didn't deserve it. God made us in His image and likeness. ... we may believe God is all-powerful and He can't get hurt by anything we do. That's wrong. In the book of Genesis, in the times of Noah, God spoke about how much man grieved Him and He regretted making man.
If you would take a moment to ponder on that thought alone, you may begin to find strength to let go of some past hurts and forgive--not because a person is so deserving, but because forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.
Listed below are a few quotes that may help inspire you. The process of forgiveness can be gut-wrenching in some cases but I assure you.. the effort is so worth it!
“By far the strongest poison to the human spirit is the inability to forgive oneself or another person. It disables the person’s emotional resources…. When we refuse to forgive we sit in a prison of toxic emotions”. Carolyn Myss
“Our capacity to make peace with another person and with the world depends very much on our capacity to make peace with ourselves.” Thich Nhat Hanh
“Compassion breeds understanding, which in turn invites forgiveness. Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul.” Father Paul Keenan
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love," Martin Luther King Jr.
Pope John Paul II said, "Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against natural instinct to pay back evil with evil."
Jodi Picoult wrote, "Forgiving isn’t something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying 'You’re not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.' It’s saying, 'You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future.'"
Will Smith - In the lyrics of his song "Just The Two Of Us," the actor, rapper, and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star writes,"Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, because hate in your heart will consume you too."
