LeadWithGOOD June 2016 | Page 16

ever hurt someone? Have I ever been so stubborn, proud and oblivious to recognize that and apologize? Wouldn’t I like to be forgiven? I further try to focus on the positive qualities of the person. It really helps me put things in perspective. Every one of us have been there; every one of us may have hurt someone whether knowingly or unknowingly. Every person has good in them, we just need to try to find it. It is important to understand that overtime the pain will be easier to deal with and you may even stop feeling the pain. So why hold on to the grudge? Why not free yourselves of the emotional baggage by forgiving the person? The peace you may feel is priceless. 3. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE Unconditional Love is the ultimate key to overcome all the negative emotions and feel positivity. You cannot really love someone unconditionally without accepting them or forgiving them. Hence, if one practices acceptance and forgiveness, one is learning to also practice unconditional love. Faith, however, is an important component of unconditional love. It is the unfaltering faith in yourself, in others and in higher being that stands Unconditional Love apart. Immaculée Ilibagiza is a living example of faith put into action. In 1994 Immaculée’s perfect and loving world was ripped apart. With the start of Rwandan genocide, she and seven other women spent 91 days huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor’s house. Immaculée entered the bathroom a vi16 brant, 115-pound university student with a loving family – she emerged weighing just 65 pounds to find her most of her family had been brutally murdered. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. Rather than succumbing to anger and resentment about her situation, Immaculée turned to prayer. Immaculée found solace and peace in prayer and began to pray from the time she opened her eyes in the morning to the time she closed her eyes at night. Through prayer, she eventually found it possible, and in fact imperative, to forgive her tormentors and her family’s murderers. Immaculée’s strength in her faith empowered her to come face to face with the killer of her mother and her brother