Know When and How to Forgive
Our focus this week — Aug 27-Sep 2: “Forgiveness”
Today’s MotD: Know When and How to Forgive. We are encouraged to know (or at least eventually learn) when and how to forgive. Why ? Because there is no peace or freedom without it.
Since this is a topic that I struggle with (and have done so for decades), I asked ChatGPT to see if it could help give me more insight and guidance on this topic for both forgiving others and, more importantly, for forgiving ourselves.
For instance, I have yet to forgive myself for marrying my first husband—that was almost 50 years ago. I think it’s time I forgive myself for that one…especially since my second marriage is in its 36th year!
I had planned on editing GPT’s response, to put it in my own voice, however it so resonated with me as it was, that, except for a tweak here and there, this all came from ChatGPT (free version):
Forgiving others doesn’t mean forgetting what happened or excusing their behavior. It means loosening the grip their actions have on your inner world. Sometimes forgiveness comes as a decision — I choose to forgive — but more often it’s a process of releasing resentment, again and again, until you feel lighter. Forgiveness doesn’t erase the memory; it changes your relationship to it.
- Forgiving others IS: release, freedom, letting go of resentment.
- Forgiving others ISN’T: forgetting, excusing, or automatic reconciliation.
Forgiving ourselves can be even harder. We live with both the wound and the one who caused it. Shame often replaces anger, and the inner critic replays the story on repeat. Self-forgiveness asks for compassion — seeing our mistakes as part of being human, making amends where we can, and choosing to let go of the identity we built around our regret. It’s not about excusing, but about integrating and beginning again.
- Forgiving yourself IS: acknowledging your humanness, releasing shame, reclaiming worth.
- Forgiving yourself ISN’T: pretending it didn’t matter, excusing harm, or erasing accountability.
Side by side, these two kinds of forgiveness look alike — both require release, compassion, and practice. But forgiving others often frees us from the past actions of someone else, while forgiving ourselves frees us from the harshest judge we’ll ever face: our own inner voice. Both are gifts of freedom, and both can be revisited as many times as we need.
How about you ? What is one hurt you’re ready to release toward another ? What is one hurt you’re ready to release toward yourself ? What part of longs to be free right now ?
BTW…Here’s the before…the front and back view of today’s puzzle piece and the pretty ceramic box that holds all my numbers from which I randomly choose each day’s puzzle piece number:
Peace & Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
Creating Mandalas 🔆 Awakening Inner Harmony
ABOUT THE 2025 Mandalas of the Day
Throughout the year, I’ll be building one large (48”x48”) Tibetan-styled Mandala one piece at a time…one puzzle piece at a time, that is. The mandala design and the reversed puzzle side were printed on artist-quality watercolor paper. The forward facing puzzle side was printed on a 48”x48” wood panel.
Each day, at random, I’ll be painting in watercolors one of the 365 watercolor puzzle pieces, that by the end of the year will become Archangel Mandala #4. Read more about the Archangel Series. The word/message for each piece will be inspired by Melody Beattie’s book “52 Weeks of Conscious Contact”.
Ultimately, the message of this mandala is about how we are all uniquely part of the one.
Mandala of the Day 