Forgiveness

[Wbaehr]

Forgiveness doesn't mean we need to forget......it is letting go of the hope that the past can be changed.

[MajestyJo]

Thank you for sharing. Time is a great healer. It doesn't happen over night. I found that it was no longer my main focus. Before, it was about poor me and what had happened to me and/or poor me, I missed out on life as a result of my using. I had to ask for forgiveness of myself as well as for others. I learned to keep it in the past and leave it there and not bring it into the present to lug into the future. Slowly the load lessened as I focused on the positive instead of the negative.

It was important to remember that forgiveness doesn't really come until Step 9. There are a lot of Steps before I could entirely become willing. I worked on it as I was able, but couldn't really make the changes until I had done the other steps. It took self-honesty and it took a long time before I could truly look at myself and take ownership of my part.

As they say, "When you get to Step 12, you start all over again. It is a process. Within each circle is a circle, and a new cycle begins, a new circumstance, a new situation, a new person, a new memory, and I need to go back to Step One.