Five steps to forgiveness at Christmas.
By: Kim Dunn
Tags: Forgiveness, Self Care And Self Love, Christmas, Mental Health, Connection

Five steps to forgiveness at Christmas.

​At Christmas a lot of old hurts can show up. You may be catching up with people you only see infrequently, and so whilst you have been able to practice avoidance throughout the year, all of a sudden that is no longer possible. And then amongst other expectations at Christmas is that you ‘play nice’ on the day.

You may also have trouble forgiving people who are now no longer in your life, or have an ex-partner who has chosen not to see their children at Christmas (and yes it happens a lot) and be feeling resentful about this. You may be experiencing fractious family relationships, feeling hurt by friends who don’t seem to be making an effort to catch up. The list of possible sources of resentment is almost endless.

What is forgiveness?

So, what is forgiveness?

Do you do it once and only when the person involved has apologised and promised not to do it again?

Do you forgive someone as many times as it takes?

Over and over?

Can you forgive someone who doesn’t want to be forgiven?

Is forgiveness an act of self-care, of grace, or an act of rebuilding a friendship or relationship?

Or perhaps it can be any of these and all of these.

As a parent sometimes I am practicing forgiveness almost on an ongoing basis! And each day begins anew. Dwelling on the mistakes, of myself and them, would only get in the way of relationship building.

You need to let go continually of the hurts and the disappointments that come with human imperfection. And this comes more easily to some people. And it is easier to forgive some people than others…

Forgiveness is first and foremost a choice

Forgiveness is first and foremost a choice, an action. It involves moving from a space of blame to a space of release. My question to you is, do you want to put the burden down?

Forgiveness is an act you do for yourself. It does not mean you agree with what someone did, it does not mean you agree with whatever you did. It does mean you are choosing to release the blame, anger, resentment, and hurt.

Five steps to forgiveness

Use these five steps to practice forgiveness.

Acknowledge that being human means being imperfect and making mistakes. Notice your language around the act that needs forgiveness. What is the message you are telling yourself? “I can’t believe this?, “they should apologise”, “how could they do that”, “I’ll never forgive them”, “they must hate me to do that”, “why did I do that?”. Practice saying “I notice, I am feeling hurt”, “I notice, I am thinking that what they did to me was horrid”. Notice how your body feels when you are say this. Write yourself a statement of belief. Now this is not an airy fairy everything is OK with the world statement, and this is not the time to quickly forgive someone for serious actions such as trauma or abuse. Create a statement such as “Forgiving ………. allows me to move forward”, “I notice my feelings of hurt and I choose to forgive”. Please, please notice that these statements do not say “I am not hurt anymore”. They are a realistic, life affirming statement. REPEAT

And keep repeating…..

Congratulations on taking the step to start this often difficult work.

Until next time, take care of yourself

Kim Dunn

Psychologist