Its real good but it ain’t easy….
I was thinking about my hike up Piestewa Peak a couple of years back and how it felt so good to conquer it and how even though I had, it wasn’t easy by any stretch. The day I did it brought me such relief. Relief from the belief that I couldn’t do, that I was too old and too out of shape had all but disappeared that day and a sense of euphoria had entered my mind at it’s summit.
Few things feel better than being forgiven for a wrong you have done to someone. But how does one go about obtaining that relief that comes from forgiveness? Relief from what you ask? You know, when you have wronged someone, but could argue why you did what you did but deep inside you know it wasn’t right. Then you carry that around with you all the time. Its a gnawing feeling in the back of your mind, your heart probably “hurts” because you did what you did and sweeping it under the proverbial rug just isn’t working and the only way out is forgiveness. Here is a sure fire way to get into the position to gain what you are looking for. Sorry. It seems easy really, to start with I’m sorry. But it ain’t. For some reason we find it hard at times to say these little words that have such immense power. I’m sorry benefits the receiver of that apology but also the sender so it should be seen as a win-win play but often it goes unsaid for a few reasons. 1. It requires us to humble ourselves and humility can be seen as weakness. 2. It requires a level of vulnerability and who wants to expose opening in our armor. 3. Sorry, a for real sorry, makes it explicate that you were wrong. 4. It may come with the possibility of forgiveness not granted.
Why then would you even dare to walk out on that ledge? The obstacles and danger are apparent so why do it? Why say, I’m sorry? The answer? It’s good, no, its real good. It is the first step in healing of both the offended and the offender. Nothing can move forward without it. My guess is that most of us, if not all of us, have a few I’m sorrys to make today. Why not try it out? Start with a small one. You accidently cut someone off in traffic, instead of flipping them the bird after they honk at you because of your obvious mistake, flip them an “I’m sorry”. When you talk over someone in a meeting and know you did, don’t let the minutes of the meeting go by without saying, hey I’m sorry for talking over you. I promise that you will feel better and they will too.
My point in this blog is this. The world could use a whole bunch of sorrys today. (I’ll start, I know that you can’t make sorry a plural because it is an adjective so to my wife and all the other literary people out there, I’M SORRY!) I hope you will join me in trying this out today and perhaps we could start a trend that brings some hope in world that is looking for it.
