Step 4: Forgiving your past You shouldn ' t jump too quickly into forgiveness. It ' s all too easy to pretend to yourself that you forgive old hurts and abusive treatment, when, in fact, what you are eager for is to escape the pain. The absence of pain, achieved through healing, gives you the right foundation for deep, lasting forgiveness. Self-acceptance is required first, and the realization that you— and everyone around you— have been doing the best you can from your own level of awareness. This can be quite a challenge when someone has hurt you deeply, but you can ' t fully separate from wrongdoing until you accept that others are trapped inside a reality they can ' t escape.
Step 5: Accepting where you are right now This, too, is a stage you shouldn ' t jump into too quickly. The present moment isn ' t free of the burdens, memories and wounds of the past. They must be attended to before you can look around, breathe easily and love the moment you are in right now. A good beginning is to catch yourself when you have a bad memory and say, " I am not that person anymore." For the truth is that you aren ' t.
Step 6: Forming relationships where you feel loved and appreciated The path to unconditional love isn ' t meant to be lonely. You should walk it with people who reflect the love you see in yourself. You are likely to look around at some point and realize that not everyone among your family and friends is in sync with your aspirations. Without rejecting them, you have the right to find people who understand the path you ' re walking and sympathize with it. They are more likely to appreciate you for who you are now, and who you want to become.
Step 7: Practicing the kind of love you aspire to receive Long ago, around the time I wrote a book called The Path to Love, I encountered many people, most of them women, who were constantly waiting for " the one " to show up and sweep them off their feet. But the only way to realistically find " the one " is to be " the one " yourself. Like attracts like, and the more you live your own ideal of love, the more your light will draw another light to you. This single point, I am told, has helped the most people find their love.
If you spend time every day with one or two of these steps, you will find a practical road that takes you to more love than you have in your life today. The steps unfold naturally once you begin to devote attention to them. You were born to be perfectly loved and you are completely lovable. The loss of that status is what ' s unnatural, not wanting to return to it, and the return means reconnecting with your true self. The path has been walked successfully for centuries, so I hope you take heart and join the fortunate ones who aspire this high. There is no better time to begin than now.
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