“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for it to kill your enemy.”
- Nelson Mandela
Stanford University Professor Fred Luskin developed the
Forgiveness Project as a result of a painful experience in his life in which he lost his best friend and struggled to get over the pain. He outlined the steps he found to be essential to truly forgive and reclaim one's life.
View a summary of his presentation.
There is no question that we live in challenging times. So much of the news that is broadcast is fixated on the horrors of existence rather than the very real daily miracles. As a result, we can easily find ourselves falling into dark pits of despair. Then, over time, we begin to actually develop tendencies toward these limiting states, such as depression, resignation, hopelessness, cynicism and pessimism. Once these states become habituated / embedded in our consciousness, it can be very difficult to extract ourselves and find the light that will guide us back home to what we really know to be true . The practice of gratefulness is one such light that puts us in direct contact with the innate perfection in life. Here is a beautiful web site on the practice of
gratefulness.
