2016 is the Year of Forgiveness!

 
Being in a number 9 world year, forgiveness is the dominant theme. Its a year of endings and we don't want to carry any negative residual energy into a new cycle. I love how T.D Jakes says forgiveness is not an emotion, its a decision. There is nothing spiritual about not speaking up and taking appropriate action when someone, or a group of people does something wrong to you. Change on a societal level can only happen when individuals have the courage to stand up for their rights. For change to occur on a personal level, the person who hurts you should know how you feel so that they can choose not to do it again, and perhaps the relationship can become stronger going forward. But once you do what you needed to do, make the conscious decision to let these careless and sometimes malicious words and actions out of your heart. At times it can be tempting emotionally to dwell in the low levels of consciousness such as anger, revenge, fear, and grief. However, replaying the same mind movies of how someone unfairly treated you only drains your vitality and ability to focus on teachings and activities that will take you to new heights on your spiritual journey.

Due to the universal law of karma, people who did wrong actions and never atoned for them will be held liable, and they will reap what they sowed. God can make up for all that you have lost in an instant and restore you to where you are meant to be, but only if you are able to let the resentment out of your heart. When you don't forgive others you are blocking the shower of blessings on your own life. I recommend watching this whole video but if you are short on time, here are some particularly powerful portions from his sermon:

"Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. It is not saying you were right to hit me, its not saying that we are going to do this contract together, its not saying we are going to form this partnership, its not saying I'm so weak I'm going to let you run over top of me, those are all different issues. But it is saying I can not afford to put this much energy into being angry with you. I can not afford to let it be that every single time you walk in the room I'm upset with you. That is too much energy to put into a direction that I am no longer going. So when I forgive you, its not about you, its about me, I cut the cord between me and you so that I can be free and you can be crazy!"
At 55 min 30sec

''Forgiveness is not about weakness, its about me getting control back in my life. Its about me no longer being vulnerable to your behaviour, and what you did and what you said, and every time I see you, you elicit a response out of me, means that you are controlling me and its about me getting control back in my life so that I can see you and you don't change my mood. Because as long as you effect my mood, that means that my thermostat is in your room and I have to live with wherever you set the dial. But when I forgive you I bring the control back into my room so that I don't know how you are feeling over there but its fine over here!"
--At 1 hour 2 min