For as long as I can remember in the 21 years of being a mom, I have always faithfully preached to my children about the power of empowerment and forgiveness.  I’ve talked to them about how reacting to people’s behaviors and actions empowers them and it’s simply not worth the effort.  I have taken that responsibility very seriously... setting my children free in that way so that no one or anything will disturb their minds and most importantly their hearts. 

Funny thing is, I myself struggle with that theory a lot.  I have been hurt before from time to time, thankfully not that many times, but the instances I can remember the behaviors of those people hurt a great deal. 

The feeling of being left out, ignored, under appreciated and/or judged has never been easy for me.  My reaction is almost always the same: cry, get angry, feel unforgiving, cry again and then reconcile (internally) with the person that hurt me and then most importantly: letting go.  It’s a very powerful process and it has taught me important lessons over the years. 

What I have learned in all these years is that it’s OK to feel the feelings that I feel when I am not treated with respect.  That I am very fortunate to have a few amazing friends who I trust to share my shame stories with and guide me back to my place of joy and contentment in life and to never act on sadness or anger - it’s simply not worth it and those feelings are like rubber bands, they bounce back and they only hurt US at the end.

So whenever I have feelings like that I allow myself to feel them fully, I always tell one person who I know will help me sort my feelings out, I don’t act on it, and then I remind myself that we are all imperfect humans beings capable of making mistakes, forgiving and also capable of loving deeply.

May we always be kind with our words and actions, for we don’t know what someone else is going through. 🧡