The traditional concept of forgiveness is based on the idea that you have been wronged and are willing to pardon those who have wronged you. 

And that's actually a really good thing - having a willingness to give a pass to someone who has hurt you.

But my thought is that this doesn't really address the root of the issue that caused the problem in the first place. I am suggesting that forgiveness is bigger than a contribution to someone else. I'm saying that it can be used as a vital tool for our own transformation. Because if we are tuned to a different frequency, we don't take the brunt of the hurt in the first place. Personally, I think that's what Jesus was talking about.

My definition of forgiveness is a purification, or healing of the core wounds that consistently and faithfully mirror back to you as people and circumstances, thus creating the big R word in consciousness - better known as "Resentment".

Resentment is a "repeat" of that which offended you, long after the event has past.  Sound familiar?  How many of us are still holding onto the story and emotions of something that happened several years ago?  I know that it's hard to let go of the pain when you've been betrayed, rejected, abandoned, etc., So, I'm not promising that this isn't a difficult process.  

What I am promising is that it is possible to reclaim your freedom and joy through forgiveness.  Forgiveness doesn't condone inappropriate behavior, it simply lifts us to a higher vibration in consciousness where negative events and circumstances don't reside.  The person you have forgiven either rises to your higher frequency, or they fall away from your life.  We no longer battle conditions, we get to transcend conditions and allow the inexhaustible presence of Spirit to express as us.

I recently had a powerful experience with a resentment I'd been carrying around for almost a year.  I'd done some forgiveness work, and found relief as layers of the wounds were starting to heal.  But one day, something triggered the pain and I couldn't sleep that night.  I was so resentful, I couldn't pray or meditate.  My emotions were out of balance, and I felt physically ill.  I knew I had to go deeper.  So, in combining the principles of Radical Forgiveness and the fourth through the tenth step of the 12 Steps, I felt release and freedom before I even finished the process.  By time I had completed the process, which includes the 9th step "make amends except when to do so would injure others", my eyeglasses that I had been searching for everywhere, fell out of the foot of my bed.  

"Where I was blind, now I see". 

One of the people I did a forgiveness process on, called me before I even made my amends to him to tell me he was sending me a gift in the mail just because he appreciated me.

I share this story to give you an example of how when we do the work of prayer, meditation, forgiveness and making amends (even when we think we're right), we line ourselves up in consciousness to that which knows no bounds. We have made room for the miracles that have been there all along to express in our lives.

Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous tells us that "resentment is a thief of all that is good". This wonderful principle - Forgiveness, restores all that is good and perfect.