Thank you PnP for your service and the daily! There is no doubt that these times are very, very trying and troubling. A part of me still can't believe that I throw stuff in my car, drove 18 hours across the country to take care of 2 people, my parents, who tested positive for Covid-19 - a virus that can kill and we know very little about...and another part of me debates that premise by saying, for goodness sake, where else would you be and what else would you do?

I will probably never know where they got it or how they got it but I do know they were not out and about, protesting and/or hanging in large groups carelessly! They were wearing masks when they went out, wore gloves and had most things delivered. As best I know, they were as careful as we're told to be, exception, visits to doctor's office and hospital.

Recovery has taught me that forgiveness sets me free. It has nothing to do with excusing another's actions/words nor does it have to do with 'freeing them' - it's for me and about me - releasing negative energy to free up space in my heart/mind/soul for more life experience. Resentments and holding on to anger hurts me, and nobody but me.

And while I know all this, I too am a bit overwhelmed watching how some react to this pandemic. Granted, there is no playbook/instruction manual on how to survive a pandemic nor how to walk through it with grace/dignity. I can say that each/every day I watch the news or witness what you describe, I turn it around and find immediate gratitude that I have a program...I would probably be just as crazy, selfish, self-serving, etc. without it - I know that before recovery, I did allow fear to drive me way more than trust in a higher power or a program.

I am still working through some family issues regarding this experience and that's OK. For me, I've never been able to waive a magic wand or say a prayer and 'bing' - all is well and forgiven. Wish it were so, but that's not reality for me. Instead, I have to do what's suggested and look at my part in what happened and accept what is vs. what I wish would have been.

It's my daily goal and prayer each morning to find my joy and peace and keep it tightly...just for the day! I don't want to give away my power to anyone for any reason, even if/when they are acting the fool, in my face, etc. Deciding to choose happiness/joy vs. being right has been a lovely gift that serves me well over and over and over again.

I have always liked the phrase, Let it Begin With Me. While I am not able to do as many spontaneous RAOK (Random Acts of Kindness) due to the social distancing and staying @ home, I am able to still be part of the solution. I have decided that I will continue to stay home, have my necessary items delivered or curb-side pick-up and continue social distancing until I am comfortable doing differently. I have friends who have already done their nails/hair and the like and I have no judgement for them, only concern. If there ever were a time for me to stay on my side of the street, it's 'now' and that includes forgiving others, blood or not, who didn't step up like I think they should.

This has been helpful for me:

Forgiveness is a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not glossing over or denying the seriousness of an offense against you. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses. Though forgiveness can help repair a damaged relationship, it doesnt obligate you to reconcile with the person who harmed you, or release them from legal accountability.

Forgiveness brings the forgiver peace of mind and frees him or her from corrosive anger. It involves letting go of deeply held negative feelings. In that way, it empowers you to recognize the pain you suffered without letting that pain define you, enabling you to heal and move on with your life.

Happy Saturday all - make it a great day!

Thank you sincerely for your service PnP. We are in interesting times. Forgiveness was something I truly learned about here in this program. I still have heaps of work to do on it being a go to response to perceived slights. Actually this is great timing and I think I should consciously commit to instant forgiveness rather than instant offense as a form of defence. I hadn't really reflected on opportunities to forgive until right now as I am currently practically and actively working on my acquired anger issues and learning about the energy body. So. There were some major life hurts which taught me the nature of forgiveness as we learn here. Its not an act we undertake for abusers which is what repelled me so much from even the word "forgiveness". Its not something to be forced on grieving people by others who are unconformable with the grief process. Its definitely not the religiously misinterpreted application I grew up with, where forgiveness really was actually not forgiveness but denial. I'm so happy to have been given the tools to move beyond that conditioning. Forgiveness is all about me. Energy body work speaks the same teachings. At this point in time I believe my test and challenge and pathway out of anger is to not engage in the precursors to resentment. For me, this looks like lovingly QTIP ing daily occurrences. Seriously its like I've gotten so used to snarling not unlike a wounded guard dog, at any slightly malingering interchange it actually feels right and normal. Sometimes it is right for me to establish and protect boundaries. But most times I'm just cording myself to lesser energies that subtract from my vitality; I'm volunteering to carry another resentment. Its quite poisonous. My task now is to instantly forgive slights in daily occurrences. When people are rude, arrogant, judgmental. I will take the compassionate path, review my own personal happiness sources and forgive because don't I also know how those traits feel to live with every day? If I seek peace and independence and long for a human collective that consciously expands to basic human goodness, tolerance, understanding, am I not obliged to stop enabling the opposite traits by feeding them with like behaviors? As I used to say to my oldest children, Darling, you have to stop and think. That's my forgiveness task today and continually. I don't like anger as a constant companion. Its certainly been a long companion. Today I seek to forgive.