Assalam-o-alikum,

Friends, so here we are, back with a new spirit and a new determination.

The New Year has set in and so have the new resolves. As a society, I feel we all need to promise ourselves to become more forgiving.  At present every other person seems to be suffering from frustration. And this frustration is because of the heavy load on our mind. Rising cost of living making it harder to make ends meet, family disputes, responsibilities all these stay in our mind. However, we have to make our mind lighter to make it feel healthy.

Medical studies show that harbouring resentment, hurt and anger can affect you mentally, physically and spiritually. Person’s mental state is affected negatively by pent emotions and resentments. When one’s mental health is not good, it makes it difficult for him to concentrate and perform daily tasks. Work and relationships suffer. The person end up loosing his patience and scream at others. Headaches, fatigue, lethargy result from the stress of carrying around anger and resentment, thus badly affecting physical health.

One way to lighten up your self is by adapting the habit of forgiving and forgetting. I agree, it is easier said then done but it is all about motivation. Often we find forgiving and forgetting difficult because we feel that by forgiving we are doing good to other, but believe you me, it benefits both the receiver and the giver.

We have a relative, an old lady whom I have always found to be keeping good health and it is always a pleasure to be in her company. She has such a light air around her and encountering with her always leaves you with positive energy. I have never heard her complaining of others 

though there are some people who have wronged her. One day, I asked her how she so easily forgives others. In reply of this she narrated me a story of her university years. She said, “We had a teacher who I look up as my mentor. One day she asked each of her pupils to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes. Then she asked us to pick up one potato and write the name of a person we had refused to forgive in our life. So for every person we could not forgive, there was one potato. Then she asked us to put these named potatoes in the clear plastic bag we had. Naturally, some had quite heavy bags. Our teacher instructed us to carry this bag with us everywhere for one week. So the bag stayed with us all the time, it was with us in our bed at night, it was on our backs when we travelled, it sat with us where we sat. We had to pay attention to it all the time so as not to forget it and leave it. It was no less than a hassle to drag it along with ourselves all the time. Before the week was over naturally the condition of the potatoes deteriorated to a nasty substance. However, it served the purpose. We realized what the purpose of this drill was. It was to make us see what weight we carry spiritually when we refuse to forgive others.”

So my friends let us adopt this habit of forgiveness. The next time you find yourself unable to forgive someone, tell yourself my bag is heavy enough already. I can’t add more weight to it. Initially it needs motivation but then it will become your habit and it will keep you going. Good luck.