I can’t cure anyone. I can’t guarantee they will heal. I can only tell them my story, remind them that they are not alone in their journey and offer a glimmer of hope for healing.

Extreme emotional pain has a profound effect on the body. I witnessed my already frail body become even more toxic and plundered.

No more martyring myself.

Forgiveness enables me to walk away from that pain, the loneliness and suffering.

It is important for me to focus on positive actions taken to heal instead of beating myself up over what I did wrong each day. It shifts my perspective, thus making my body and mind more hospitable places for healing and positive energy.

The Aramaic word for “forgive” means literally to “untie.” Hatred and anger had bound me to my pain. The fastest way to free the self from an enemy and all associated negativity is to forgive. Untie those bindings; free yourself from that person’s ugliness.