MKE Week 12 – On Forgiveness and Baby Steps

Some weeks seem to have a theme, this one not so much.  Unless one appears as I write today.  So here are my random thoughts this week:

On Forgiveness:  After we read about the Mental Diet by Emmett Fox, I looked to see what was in the library, and checked out “The Sermon on the Mount – the Key to Success in Life.”  And then it sat on my desk for a couple of weeks.  Our loan period is 3 weeks, so with a week to go I had a look.  I read the first bit, got a ways into the Beatitudes, then noticed at the end of the book was his take on The Lord’s Prayer.  So I jumped ahead, knowing I wouldn’t get to it otherwise (couldn’t renew as other people has requested it).  I quite enjoyed this, and it actually helped me to understand a couple things I didn’t always resonate with.  In fact, how many times have you recited this prayer (If you are Christian that is) and not even really thought about it?  When I got to the part “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our trespassers”, I thought of the 7 Laws of the Mind, of course the Law of Forgiveness.  And Emmet gives us a method:

The method of forgiving is this: Get by yourself and become quiet.  Repeat any prayer or treatment that appeals to you, or read a chapter of the Bible.  Then quietly say, “I fully and freely forgive X (mentioning the name of the offender); I loose him and let him go.  I completely forgive the whole business in question.  As far as I am concerned, it is finished forever.  I cast the burden of resentment upon the Christ within me.  He is free now, and I am free too.  I wish him well in every phase of his life.  That incident is finished.  The Christ Truth has set us both free.  I thank God.”

Then he says to go about your business, and don’t go back to this, ever.  And when you think of that person, just bless him/her and dismiss the thought.  As well, it is a good practice, he says, to issue a general forgiveness to everyone in the course of your regular prayers.  Just say: “I freely forgive everyone.”  The result, he says, is that you will soon be free of all resentments and condemnation, and you will greatly improve your happiness, health, and general life.

I am not a particularly religious person, but I do say the Lord’s Prayer, and I appreciate his essay, in particular this part on Forgiveness.  I don’t generally tend to hold resentments, but there are those few.  I did something like this method a few weeks ago, before reading this.  And it has been freeing.  Now I understand it a bit better.

On Comfort Zones and Baby Steps: We are often told to “get out of your comfort zone”, or to “expand your comfort zone”.  I do agree that if you stay ‘comfortable’, and keep doing the same things in the same way, you will never grow and reach your goals.  But there are stages to this, and I love in the Greatest Salesman, when he talks about taking one more step:

Always will I take another step.  If that is of no avail, I will take another, and yet another, and yet another.  In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult.  I will persist until I succeed.

So by taking one more step and one more step, we are making progress, doing things that are a little uncomfortable will become more comfortable, and so on, and so on – until suddenly your comfort zone is bigger, and you are closer to your goals.  So some days, when I don’t feel like doing anything at all, but just do SOMETHING, I am a winner!  Celebrate every small success, and keep taking baby steps (or giant leaps) forward!

I DID take one giant leap forward this week, I registered for the Master Key Experience Live Event in Kauai!!!  I am excited, scared, and curious.  And I hope to meet some of the wonderful people I have come to know through reading their blogs, seeing or hearing them on Marco Polo or webinars, or just reading comments in the Alliance area.  My company also has an event at almost the same time, in Germany, which I would love to attend, and I am not sure how I can be in 2 places a day apart, but I am sure that things will work out the way they are meant to work out.  One more quote, from the Beatles:

There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be – it’s easy!  All you need is Love, Love, Love is all you need.

I could go on, but I think I have rambled enough for this week.