Sam's Sharebook 

Forgive everyone, everyday, and in every way. Each person is doing the best he or she can. No one, absolutely no one is perfect. Since no one is perfect, this means that we all need to share more patience and more understanding surrounding all aspects of our interactions with one another. Think of the last time you needed to forgive someone. And, think of the last time you needed to be forgiven. When we need to be forgiven, there is a feeling of lack or something as missing. When we need to forgive, we often feel anger. Anger is a secondary emotion for loss. When we lose something, the need to restore what was lost. This sends us on a search within ourselves for attention in a peace filled direction. If you noticed, to forgive or to be forgiven leads you to the same place. Both paths of awareness lead us on a search. What are you searching for? You are searching to find wholeness. What is wholeness? This is often one's perception of reality created by what one believes to be true. This creation of what one believes to be true is the path of one's soul seeking manifestation in the world of form from the formless.

There is no set way to wholeness. Simply being aware that you have a self-defined understanding of wholeness that is within you is what we simply need to give attention to within us. This continued attention on what we seek the most within us will grow in our awareness until the need to place our attention on forgiveness fades away.

If a person was to believe that forgiveness is something obtained through the human psyche alone, we all would find the journey into such a place within us as something to avoid. In the deepest parts of who we are, we want to connect to what is sacred within us. Therefore, to re-create a past interaction with someone who we feel we harmed or who we feel harmed us is a useless attempt to embrace what cannot be. This is not to say that certain relationships close to us do not need verbal efforts to make up for a past action leading to harm. In fact, a person can find this useful, and even, helpful. The point I want to make is the place one's attention may be at the time such a verbal interaction will become vital in the success of such expressions taking place.

Dying patients remind me that there are countless times in all our lives where the issue of forgiveness was perceived and we become aware of it. There is no way a dying person can retrieve all their past life experiences in physical form, but we can recall these moments in time and visualize how we would have handled them differently. This is our soul seeking to make right a wrong our personality may not allow us to do, or it may no longer be feasible to take place in our current circumstances. People are such a vast array of experiences. There are endless paths of attention within us calling for our attention. Perhaps, the instant we remember who we are and who others are in the deepest parts of our being, we begin to remember the love that brings all our lives together, and into, being. This remembrance of who we are as children of our Creator reminds us of the unconditional spirit reflected within our own selves. The transcendence of flesh and blood inspires us to give our Creator our lives, the lives of others, and our very reason for living into the hands that created us.

Nations go to war, often quoting peace as the reason. We must realize peace is a journey, not an end. Yet, in our efforts to obtain peace, we often do the most unpeaceful things. Instead of seeking inner peace, we seek to enforce peace on others. And that just doesn't work. Peace is a gift you can give to others and to yourself.

If you seek peace with a sincere heart, you can find it. Sometimes, you need some deep thoughts to bring you to peace. Sometimes, you need thoughts that are not so deep. Sometimes, just a good book dealing with the topic of peace is exactly what you need.

If you are looking for such a good book on peace, try Peace Works, by peaceful author Cinthea T. Coleman. This illustrated, entertaining book will help you on your journey of peace. Even the price is peaceful, so buy the book and be on your way toward an existence that is both more peaceful and more joyous. You can find peace, even though peace is elusive. But, you have to know where to look.

Here are some tips on finding peace within yourself:

• Read inspirational books, such as Peace Works.
• Realize you cannot control every event in your life.
• Organize your life in ways that reduce stress, rushing around, or forgetting things.
• Behave with integrity, so you never have to look over your shoulder.
• Make a "peace appointment" with yourself once a week, and write down those items and events that most threaten your sense of peace. Make an action list for resolving the top three.
• Realize that most events are simply not worth worrying about or being upset about.
• When you are worried about something, write down the worst thing that can happen. Then write down the most likely thing to happen. Cross out the worst thing and focus on the most likely thing.
• When something upsets you, ask yourself if it is really that important.
• When something upsets you, ask what you could do differently in the future. For example, if someone cuts you off in traffic, could you have left yourself more room or gone a less-traveled route?
• Look for the positive part of a negative event.
• If someone insults you, recognize that is only one person's opinion, and you are not obligated to refute it or insult that person back.
• Recognize that each person is special in some way. You are special. You have gifts and interests that make you a worthwhile human being.
• Accept that some people will like you, and some will not. Accept that some people will love you, and some will not.
• Accept failings in other people. Nobody is perfect.
• Accept failings in yourself. Nobody is perfect.
• Live to your own expectations, not those of other people.
• Meditate on peace, once a day. Fill your mind with thoughts of peace, and it will direct you toward peace. If you need help with such thoughts, get a copy of Peace Works to help you on your journey of peace.

Information Provided by Mindconnections.com

Healing Care Resources: http://www.pathintohealing.com/