What does it mean, “Forgive the past to heal the future?”
Our ancestors spoke of great things; the wars they experienced, the raiding parties, hunting parties, the games they played, the feasts they enjoyed to honor individual feats of bravery looking beyond themselves and onto others. The women they loved and the women who loved them. It was exciting to listen to the stories of great grandeur. Stories of bravery, stories of love, stories of hunting, which they took great pride in telling; not pride in themselves, but pride of events and the people that were part of those events.
Therein lies the secret for healing our souls. When we hold hate and suspicion in our hearts there is no room for self-fulfillment, no room for growth, no room for love. There is no room for pride. Everyone is suspect and everyone is a potential enemy. By clinging to things we cannot change we sabotage our future by refusing to open our hearts to love.
Once again, let us return to past triumphs of our ancestors when they honored others more than themselves, when they celebrated feats of bravery and they had the self-esteem to tell funny stories as well as soaring stories of another’s bravery.