Important Lecture on Happiness in Life: Forgiveness
I like series and movies with a message. I’m not sure if everyone gets it but for me, it’s a reminder of how great the creators and writers are of series and movies.
Manifest is a Netflix series starting with people showing up 5 years after they disappeared with a plane, not knowing what happened.
In the end, it leads to a lot of mythology and things written in the Bible. I will not give you a lecture on religion now.
But the message at the end was that forgiving others and yourself is the way to a purposeful and good life.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”
— Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiving
This doesn’t mean that you forget what people did to you or that you have to be friends again. No. It means that you accept what happened and you forgive them.
We are all human.
We are all different.
We all have emotions.
Someone would say: how can I forgive the guy who killed my family?
By accepting the reality and the things you cannot change. It’s ok to be sad. But not forgiving someone or being mad at them will make you more miserable.
Let go of your negative emotions or else you will not have a happy life.
Be selfish and forgive the other person. Let go of the emotions and your thoughts. Accept it!
And then you can continue with your life and live it like you want to.
Forgiving is For You
Forgiving someone is helping you to grow and move on. It’s not for the other person.
The other person has their own life and makes their own decisions. You cannot change that.
What you can change is yourself, your emotions, and your life.
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future”
— Paul Boose
Forgive Yourself
We are way too hard on ourselves.
We can be really harsh to ourselves. Overthinking everything stupid and bad we did in the past.
I was too shy to tell the guy that I like him. And I’m still thinking about that 10 years later.
I said something really stupid under pressure. And I’m still thinking about that 15 years later.
Now I know what I would have said in this situation. But it’s over. But it stuck with me for over 10 years.
Every time you do something stupid or you regret something afterward,
let go! Don’t be like me and carry this stupid situation for over a decade with you.
The past is gone, and you cannot change it!
Accept it and move on to the things you can change!
Forgive yourself for your stupid past self, and your insecure childish self.
“Even people that have made mistakes deserve happiness”
— Quote from TV show “Manifest”
What You Can Do
Focus is a good keyword for that: change focus!
Instead of focusing on the things in the past, you cannot change: you can change yourself now and make better decisions for the future.
Accept your past as a part of you, but don’t let it control your present and future!
Let go so that you can take control and responsibility for your life again!
I know your brain wants to overthink every “what if” and every “wrong” decision you made in the past.
This is what got you there, but it doesn’t mean that it has to influence your future and your dream life.
Coming Back to The Show
There have been some spoilers in this text I’m sorry. But there is one big thing you shouldn’t read before you didn’t see the finale episodes of Manifest.
The main character Ben forgave the woman who killed his wife. He risked his life to save hers. And this is the reason why he survived.
She was just another human. Hurt and on the wrong path. But she didn’t deserve to die (even though he wanted it really bad some days before).
We are all human. We make mistakes. We are not 100% perfect.
Forgive yourself and forgive others!
This is a big step to your happy life. Without any negative feelings from your past or toward others.
This is how to make peace with life. And if you believe in Karma or God: they will get what they deserve.
Accept it! Accept life!
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