This is my contribution to #ForgivingFridays – please join me everyone (guidelines below)! It’s also my sharing for Dutch Goes the Photo’s Challenge, Morning. Frank, mornings are teaching me a lot about how to slow down and really choose love – including on my birthday! Thank you so much.
Today’s Forgiving Fridays is Do It In Love.
I am asking folks to contribute your experiences with forgiveness for Forgiving Fridays, and I realize that somewhere inside of me, I got lost to doing forgiveness in love. To REALLY slow down and show up inside of myself, in great compassion for myself as I am.
I had two wonderful teachers this past week. Simply Etta D. shared about the importance of truly pausing in our lives. Following Him Beside Still Waters wrote about forgiving, forgetting, and moving forward.
Both of these posts illustrate the power of forgiveness as a profound tool for being still, for pausing, and for consciously saying to ourselves, “I love you”. Thank you so much – great blogs!
I am struggling with how I express myself. I just had a run in with a colleague, and I kept repeating myself because I felt like she was wrong. (God I was just going to write something else, and you know, that sums it up!) That’s such a question for me: How do I communicate with someone who doesn’t see things like I do? What a question for the world.
Time for forgiving:
1 – Self-forgiveness: I forgive myself for judging myself for making my colleague wrong. I forgive myself for judging myself as bad for expressing my point of view.
2 – Letting Go: Wow, do I let this one go. We are all doing the best we can, and that includes me.
3 – Gratitude: I am so grateful and honored to be able to learn how to communicate in love. How do I do all things in love? I love this as an intention!
*****
This week, I celebrated my birthday. One of the things I did in the morning was to go for a run and get my favorite cup of tea. I did this even though I thought I “should” go back to work. And this morning, I went back downstairs and said to my colleague that I was learning how to communicate in loving. I did this even though I thought I was “right”. She thanked me, and I kissed her on the cheek.
Sometimes, just taking a pause to do things differently – to do things in LOVE – can open up the doorway to SUCH acceptance, peace and compassion. It reminds me that forgiveness starts inside.
I invite you to join me in Forgiving Fridays, however that love and compassion expresses itself inside of YOU.
I love you.
Love, Debbie
Here are the guidelines of #ForgivingFridays:
- Every day is Friday! Do a post today or anytime this week.
- Free free to be creative – there’s LOTS of space for your expression! Whatever inspire forgiving inside you.
- Tag your post with #ForgivingFridays (here’s a great WordPress article about tagging posts)
- Create a pingback link to this post. This way, I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week.
- Have fun creating your own form of forgiving, of loving YOU!!
Happy Friday! Yesterday I was talking with a friend I had not seen in a while. She was telling me about a conflict she had had with a family member. She said very affirmatively that she had forgiven her. She said she had learnt about forgiving from me with International Forgiving Day 15th March some years ago. What occurred to me afterwards was that forgiving really starts with ourselves first. And self-forgiving the judgment that was part of the conflict and upset. In the self-forgiving is the greater freedom although any forgiving is good. There are just many ways to do forgiving.
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You said it, Anne – there are so many ways to do forgiving. And self-forgiveness is really the key, and so full of self-compassion. Doing my best with that each day, you know? ❤ So glad you're here, and congrats on all that you do for sharing forgiveness. You are so wise, and I love you.
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Debbie, thank you for this important message of doing in love. Yes, we have to love ourselves, forgive ourselves so that our cups of love and forgiveness overflow to reach to people around us! Love you, Miriam
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You said it, Miriam! Loving ourselves first is the key to forgiveness. I am aware of how it is a daily practice to choose love each day. Often, I say to myself, “I am love”. Good to have affirmations to help build a loving energy. 🙂 Blessings to you, my friend. Love and Light, Debbie
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It is such a good practice! Miriam
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Hi Debbie, that’s a wonderful dose of love and forgiving making Friday even better. It’s really important to love one’s own self and understand that letting go can bring in peace. There’s no point holding on the grudge and thereby watering the seed of hatred. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend… ❤
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Thank you so much, Maniparna! I love what you wrote, “letting go can bring peace”. It can also open space for Spirit to fill with loving. ❤ I am so glad you're here. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Feel free to contribute to Forgiving Fridays anytime! Blessings, Debbie
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I hope that you had a wonderful birthday! Doing things in love can definitely make a difference. 🙂 ❤
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Oh Amy, thank you! So glad that you are here, and that this post spoke to you. Doing things in love is a way to open a safe space for people to communicate ❤ I am so grateful to be learning how to do it, and to forgive. Many blessings to you and your family. ~Debbie
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That’s a big one for me too. Both struggling with how to communicate with someone I think is wrong, and also how to communicate with someone who has been disrespectful to me, or someone else – how to not let it slide, but be respectful about it. I have to forgive myself for feeling like I am not forgiving enough of others who hurt me or people I know. Convoluted, or what?
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Emily, that makes complete sense! What I love about your comment is that it is so real – you are just saying what’s so for you. This is one of the most relieving things that I can do, to just be honest … and then to learn how to accept that and to make peace with it. Have a wonderful week. ~Debbie
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Debbie, I am joining you in the exploration of communication with love. What I have learned so far is that speaking from a place of love increases the chances of the listener hearing you. This is not convincing but an offering to share an open, loving space, and listen in return. I am interested to find out what you notice. Thanks for creating this opportunity in my day to reflect. The world needs love.
Happy Birthday! You are a bright light in the world.
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Oh Ali, thank you. This is beautiful. My spiritual mentor (one of them!) John-Roger has encouraged me to see through the eyes of love. I would love to hear what you notice too. Feel free to be in contact anytime at weloveyou@forgivingconnects.com. ❤ Loving, Debbie
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Happy birthday Debbie and thank you for sharing the beautiful John Roger quote here, which is so fitting for this post :o) xxx
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Oh Xenia, I’m so glad you enjoyed the John-Roger quote! It really reminds me to tune into my heart for the answers I need. ❤ Have a beautiful week ahead, and many blessings ~Debbie
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💜🙋💜 xxx
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A great post and I hope that you had a very happy birthday!
Frank
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Thanks, Frank! It was truly a gorgeous birthday. 🙂 So glad to share about it via your photo challenge. Have a beautiful week. ~Debbie ps – I’ve seen some of the other contributions, they are fantastic.
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Hello dear Debbie!
Thank you for your honesty in this post. I really appreciate how you came full circle and shared with us how you altered your mindset and chose to create a very different outcome with your co-worker. That… is most certainly done in love. And not beating ourselves up for the times we weren’t acting as we expect of ourselves. That never helps. You used it as a situation to learn something and made it into a good outcome for you both. As you say, giving yourself time to pause…
A beautiful post thank you Debbie 🙋💜💜
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Hope you had a beautiful and very happy birthday Debbie. Thus is such a lovely honest post and full of the grace and vulnerability we’ve come to expect from you. Enjoy the week ahead my friend. xo
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Oh thank you Miriam! You have a wonderful week at work. ❤ I'm sending you blessings of forgiveness and loving. Just posted a second contribution to Frank's challenge. It's a poem called Dawn. I'd be interested to know what you think of it — I wrote it in like 5 minutes early one morning!! (I sense it would connect for you maybe) Love, Debbie
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I’m off to read it now! Thanks for letting me know Debbie. ❤️
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I know I told you on facebook, but you are worth telling twice 🙂 Happy belated birthday.
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Oh Lacey, thank you!! You are a sweetheart. I love you!!! 🙂 Blessings to you. I had a great birthday. Love, Debbie
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https://theshowersofblessing.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/healing-from-above/
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Debbie, See if this works. Miriam
https://theshowersofblessing.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/healing-from-above/
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Perfect! Miriam, your contribution is beautiful and an upliftment to Forgiving Fridays. Thank you, so blessed to witness your forgiveness. Have a wonderful rest of your week – and smiles 🙂 Love, Debbie
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Thank you!! Miriam
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So Happy Birthday Debbie!!! Here’s to a wonderful year of growth and blessing ahead. You are loved. xo
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Thank you so much Rhonda! Big hugs to you 🤗 Love is all there is, such a good reminder and guide for life
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Hugs!! Xo
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