THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

“Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.” - Webster Dictionary

As you go through life, the more you experience and interact with other human beings, you probably have heard the word “forgive” once or more.

I believe, now this may not be true for everyone, that in order to be “free”, and I use this word as inner peace in your life, you must look deep in your heart to anyone that has “wronged” you and forgive him or her.

Now I’m not saying you and this person i.e. an ex, parent, friend or co-worker have to be part of one another lives, but there is something very powerful about saying “hey this person did they best they knew how”; now their best may not work for me, but it’s ok and I forgive them.

I’ll use my father as my example. Over the last year I feel I never opened up to myself, or anyone who asked me about him, because every time I thought about the subject, it would bring a tremendous amount of panic attacks and anxiety. I would also feel a tremendous amount of guilt if I said the wrong thing to my mom, who raised me all on her own, not taking a single dollar of child support from my dad. My dad basically abandoned me as a child because he was wrapped into his personal demons.  At the end of the day I realize we all have our “demons”.  They may not all be on the same level of how bad, but we all are human. Instead of me being an angry daughter with a ‘why me?’ sob story, I look at it like this. Maybe my father not being in my life made me closer to my grandmother and my mother. I grew up with strong women who taught me to rely on ME. I went into a mother-daughter jewelry business with my mom, Tres Glam, and now we have “Gastineau Glamour” on HSN that was a dream of ours for seven years. I am so thankful and grateful for that.  Hard work really does pay off.

I don’t know what the future holds. I’m not saying my dad and I are going to be best friends, or even friends for that matter, but as long as I know that his decisions may not have been what I would have done, I still forgive him.  Life is too short. We only have this moment. I believe people come in and out of your life for a reason. As long as you can take the good and even the “BAD” and turn the story into a positive lesson, you’re ahead of the game. On this note, just say: “I FORGIVE you”, even if it’s to yourself and keep flowing down stream. No one is perfect.

Peace and love,

xxoxo britt

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Brittny Gastineau is a jewelry designer, model and actress. Check out her website for her jewelry line Tres Glam here.