In yesterday’s post, I mentioned that I did two therapy groups before attending Boston’s unprecedented fireworks show for Independence Day, 2014.
In this post, I want to tell you a little more about one of those groups.
A theme that emerged in that group — as people thought, spoke, listened, and shared — was forgiveness. About mid-way through the group, I suggested a new exercise, which people agreed to try. People took turns, naming and describing things they wished to forgive themselves for.
I found this exercise healing and moving. Today, I would like to continue it, here.
I’ll go first!
When I was in my early 20’s, I became very depressed, for many reasons. Today, I would like to forgive myself for becoming that depressed. Most importantly, I wish to forgive myself for getting very angry at my parents, during that difficult period.
I choose to forgive myself for expressing that anger in uncharacteristic ways, which have lingered in my mind until this day.
Now, would you like to take a turn? It’s up to you, of course.
Before I end this post, I could continue forgiving myself, for things like:
- never getting a great shot of the parade of geese and ducks that kept passing by, at Boston’s Independence Day celebration,
- repeating myself in several ways here (including linking to the same post twice), or
- startling Oscar, with an unexpected noise
… when I was scanning that photo of my parents.
However, I think I’ve done the major forgiveness work, for today.
Thanks to my dear departed parents, to people who forgive as best they can, to parading (and/or sensitive) creatures everywhere, and to you — of course!*– for participating here, today.
* I was going to write, in this footnote: “Forgive me for using ‘of course!’ so often in my thank you’s, for perhaps overusing exclamation points, and for any other writing trespasses against you.” Then I realized, again, it was in me … to forgive myself.