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Sporadic photos and notes from a Psyche-midwife, cheerleader, anthropologist--aka clinical social worker in therapy practice. Photos are usually mine except for those of historical events/famous people. Music relevant to the daily topic is often included in a web video embedded below the blog. Click on highlighted links in the copy to get to source or supplemental material. For contact information, see my website @ janasvoboda.com or click on the button to the right below. Join in the conversation.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Resolution of the day: FORGIVE


 There's a church near my house that posts little aphorisms on its bulletin board.  One of my favorites:  "Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison, and waiting for the other person to die."
Make a resolution to let go of an old hurt.  You don't have to forget to forgive, and you don't have to allow another to continuing hurting you in the same way.  It's fine to set limits, but it's also good to acknowledge that at some point, carrying the burden of the hurt is doing more damage than good.  It's sometimes impossible and often unnecessary to offer forgiveness directly to the one that hurt you.  You still benefit by acknowledging the pain and the lesson and then allowing the resentment to recede.

(Click on embedded links for more information)

Book of the day:  Why Forgive? by Joseph Christopher Arnold
Song of the day:  Not Angry Anymore  by Ani DiFranco
Website of the day:   Campaign for Love and Forgiveness
Movie of the day:  Dead Man Walking (1995)
Letting Go ritual courtesy of loveandforgive.org

2 comments:

treplovski said...

Excellent, Jana. And I might add: don't forget to forgive yourself. That's often the hardest thing to do .

Jana Svoboda, LCSW said...

Amen to that. Tara Brach, a Buddhist psychotherapist, has great wisdom to offer around self-forgiveness in her book "Radical Acceptance".