In Step Seven you moved up from your chair and standing behind that chair, identified with the Higher Self and its qualities. Now you are "looking down" with all those transpersonal qualities on your everyday self, which is seeking forgiveness - and forgiveness is the cancellation of all the conditions in the mind which have blocked the flow of unconditional love in the past, or continue to do so in the present.
FORGIVER:
(SPEAKING AS THE HIGHER SELF, WITH GREAT GENTLENESS, COMPASSION, WISDOM, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING TO THE "LOWER SELF" IMAGINED TO BE SEATED IN THE CHAIR)
| "Dear ..... (use your name)....I do forgive you and I really do love you. I understand how it was for you in the past. You did the best you could at the time. And I love you just the same." |
Open the gates and allow the love through you to the personality, through all its past experiences, from conception or birth if necessary, right through the still hurting experiences of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Sometimes you will access a stream of compassionate inspiration and know what to say to the personality. There is no need to struggle to think what to say - sometimes there is simply a silent flow of love energy and understanding. The following sentence often helps to establish this flow.
FORGIVER (AS HIGHER SELF):
| "Yes, it's true that you didn't always do the wisest things,....the most loving things,..... or the most courageous things,.... but I love you just the same." |
Always the words spoken by the Higher Self have great simplicity, love, and truth, never sarcasm or judgmental criticism. What is discovered from the Higher Self from now on is often a new and more enlightened way of acting in similar situations in the future.
FORGIVER (AS HIGHER SELF):
| "In forgiving you I am now cancelling all the guilts, and negative beliefs that became set in your mind in the past, blocking the flow of love." |
These would be the different guilts, expectations, demands, negative or critical beliefs, vengeful or destructive thoughts, etc. Use the words that fit the situation best. ( Note how negative beliefs or guilts arose at times when our needs were not met. They are only partial truths about the world seen through the filter of our experience at the time. "Enlightenment," however, has been described as "the capacity to no longer confuse a partial truth for the whole truth").
GUIDE, note that Steps 9 and 10 may flow in and out of each other, and you will use your intuition to guide you. Sometimes the focus will be more upon Healing the Inner Child ,or Forgiver as "Earlier You" (Step 9) before the belief systems can be changed. At other times, the emphasis will be simply on changing old beliefs (Step 10).
Link here to go on to SF Step Nine - Healing the Inner Child
Link here to go on to SF Step Ten - Intuition: Teaching from Within
Link here to return to Forgiveness Programme - Contents