Forgiveness releases the judgments we have stored in our past and erases the associated karmic debt. This brings to mind two very basic questions: why did we make those judgments in the first place and why have we been so attached to them that we would hold onto those old hurts and resentments for years or even lifetimes?

While we lived in duality, the making of judgmental thoughts was the natural outcome of any situation where we were hurt, slighted or did the same to someone else. Those thoughts became things back then just like they do today—things that either materialized as illness, pain or worse, or ones which merely stuck to us or hung in our fields as shapes we couldn’t see. Basically these judgmental thoughts were tools that reinforced our beliefs that we were separate—from each other or even from Source. They violate the Universal Law of No Judgments.

If we hadn’t slipped immediately into violation of another law, No Attachments, we would have just let these thoughts float away and been done with them, but more often than not, we hung onto every slight, or hurt, the guilt, remorse or hate and missed the point of the lesson which presented them. So these lessons return to us, and with each reoccurrence, the stakes were raised and the tests got more painful. What if we had awakened and realized that allit ever took was to lay down the sword and walk away from the battle?

My mother used to say, “every time you win an argument, you lose a friend.” I don’t know if she understood the point she was actually making, but she was teaching me about No Attachments. Every time we become so attached to being right, we make another wrong. In an enlightened mind, we would never want to do that, but when we muddle thorough life half asleep, we forget that “our brother” is our self and if we make him/her wrong, we are negating our self, moreover, we are negating God. This is the age-old lesson of The Golden Rule.

The old rules have fallen away as we move into The New Reality. We are in a place of Unity where they don’t fit anymore. Our world is still one of choice, though, so we can certainly keep on doing the same things expecting different outcomes—insanity. Or, we can choose differently this time!

The first step is forgiveness. Start with yourself. What are you judging about yourself? It might be about your physicality (I’m too __ or I’m not __). It might be related to your abilities or accomplishments. There is no order of magnitude in judgment. Just STOP! Forgive yourself, then move back through your memory banks and forgive yourself for everything you have done in the past. Then you can begin forgiving all others you have ever judged or blamed. What they did no longer matters, because the past is gone. It doesn’t exist so actions from the past don’t exist anymore either. The present moment is all we have. As soon as you can grasp this concept, forgiveness becomes easy. Think of all those old hurts like debts on an accounting ledger. If you feel that there has to be a repayment for each one in order to “balance the books” you are still living in duality. Look at the ledger your have create for yourself and mark each debt PAID, once and for all! The most incredible miracle follows! As you shed the weight of those old “debts” you feel lighter. Some will even lose physical pounds as this old gunk falls away, because lack of forgiveness not only holds us back on our path to enlightenment, it weighs us down as well. When you forgive, you let go of fear at the same time, because fear is inextricably tied to judgment. Freedom from fear is the miracle that opens the door to your personal power, allowing you to create the reality you deserve. Realizing this, why would we want to continue on the old path? It didn’t serve us in the past, it doesn’t serve us now!