March 25, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Clean sweep
Clean it up, clear it out. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to sweep up all the old resentments and all the things that have made me feel wronged. I’m going to brush them aside without looking and toss them anywhere that falls outside of the inside of my head. I’m going to make a clean sweep with the broom of forgiveness so I am freshened and freed, not stuck in the same old mud.
The slaps-in-the-face and stabs-in-the-back came at the hand of someone who most likely did the deed and never looked back. So, by hanging on to anger and grudges, I’m poisoning only myself with a poison of my own making. How stupid.
While I’m at it, while I’m tidying things up, I’m going to forgive new wrongs as they come. Forgiveness doesn’t mean I will accept new wrongs as they come; it means I will turn and walk away from kicks-in-the-teeth instead of carrying a vendetta in my soul. In embracing forgiveness, I’m no longer going to store toxins in my head and heart…or life. I’m booting them out.
Forgiveness doesn’t excuse their behavior. Forgiveness pre­vents their behavior from destroying your heart. — Hemant Smarty
Hazelden Foundation

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