As we zoom, creep, glide, or stumble along this road of life, we run into potholes. Some we crash into and bounce on through. We endure a nasty bout of the flu, break an arm, move to a new city, or even have a baby. Bouncing through a pothole is like weathering a storm. There is a lot of turbulence for a while, but when it’s over, it’s over. Maybe a little cleaning up – especially with a move or a new baby – but probably no significant lasting emotional effects.

However, we get stuck in other potholes we run into. We get spattered with emotional “mud” that clings for a long time – emotional “mud” from thoughts and memories. Hurt feelings, resentment, anger, fear, and frustration are potholes we create internally. They have lasting effects and plenty of emotional stress “baggage” with them. Fortunately, we can repair these potholes. All it takes is serious, emotion-filled forgiveness.

When visiting with patients – especially patients with chronic pain – about forgiveness, there seems to be a recurring theme that goes something like, “Oh yes, I was really upset at the time, but I’ve dealt with it.
No problem now.” Well, if whatever upset them wasn’t still a problem, they wouldn’t have been searching for a “cure.”

So, how are you to know which memories of the past are still churning away? When something such as a phrase, someone’s mannerism, an aroma, a sound, or a visual scene causes a “long-forgotten” event or person to jump into your consciousness, that’s your first clue. Any thought that slips into your mind when it isn’t the subject of what you are already thinking about is powered by past emotional “baggage.” If all it takes is an associated thought or sensation to dredge up unpleasant memories of the past, your memories of the person associated with the event need to be “neutralized,” and the best neutralizer is forgiveness.

“Well, that doesn’t apply to me,” crow many patients. “I’m a good Christian. Forgiveness is part of my religion. I practice forgiveness all the time.”

And that’s a good start. It’s a step in the right direction. If nothing else, it eases the conscience. But now is the time to stop “practicing” and get down to some serious forgiving. Just an obligatory “I forgive my spouse, my boss, that jerk at the bank,” or whoever doesn’t get the job done. There’s more.

You forgive to do yourself a favor – to put positive energy into your field and body. Your field energy is very important to your health. Emotions affect energy frequency. Forgiveness is a positive energy emotion. It’s high-frequency creative energy that allows you to receive more of the field energy that’s been available to you all along. Send positive energy-enhancing frequencies into the field, and you get back positive energy-enhancing frequencies.

On the physical (body) side, forgiveness neutralizes emotional stress.
It hones in on a particular area of negative memories and neutralizes them with positive energy. With emotional memories subdued, your body and mind can respond to what is consciously going on in your world now, responding to events of the moment and not events and situations of the past.