Business Fit Magazine November 2019 Issue 2 | Page 30

Mindset & Emotion A specialist in relationship training, Viola Edward, explains the importance of forgiving those who we feel have wronged us, but also of forgiving ourselves and how by doing so, we set ourselves free from guilt and shame. For every metre of an iceberg seen floating above the surface of the water, there are nine metres which cannot be seen below it. People are like icebergs in that, to transform our behaviour (i.e. the ‘visible’ result above the surface), we must first work on ourselves at a deeper level or down around the nine metre mark, which is where the thought patterns and beliefs forming the basis of our attitude towards life and lead us to express ourselves with one form of behaviour or another are to be found. Then it is essential to forgive in order to integrate and really grow emotionally. If not, your awareness will be endlessly subject to the realm of your emotions and these emotions will confuse your ability to see the truth, keeping you captive of your attitude of mind. This situation will feed on your energy, keeping you trapped. Being tied to the emotional body keeps you trapped at a physical level which keeps both your body and mind captive. Therefore Conscious Connected breathing is fundamental to liberate body, emotion and mind. Forgiveness is another way of acting consciously to clear and change any thought, emotion or sensation which leaves you feeling alienated from your divine essence. Forgiveness sets you free because, by forgiving yourself and others, you give up the need to hide the guilt and shame you feel as a result of having thought you were a defenceless victim or that you have been relentlessly victimising others. Why bother to forgive? When you forgive others, you are loving yourself because you release your heart and mind from judgement and resentment. When you judge others, you only judge yourself and use the same yardstick for both yourself and them. Holding on to resentment means that you are keeping your memory and emotive nature busy with a painful memory and all resentment does is feed this and magnify it. Forgiveness turns the yardstick into a wand that sets you free and makes you generous with yourself, your surroundings and with others. By integrating experiences from the past and being free to celebrate the present moment, your memory and emotions can then offer themselves to serve you for a better life here and now. FORGIVENESS Guilt, anger, and fear hold us captive when the emotional body feeds off fear. You can fake you are not feeling anger, guilt, fear or sadness but there is no way around the emotion. Sooner or later, you will have to pass through it and absorb it with your consciousness. However, you can only absorb the emotions that you are aware of. In short, the key to moving forwards in all areas of your life is to integrate what you are and what your experiences of life have taught you. 30 Guilt, anger, and fear hold us captive when the emotional body feeds off fear 31