A Monthly Grudge / Forgiveness List

From an idea I remember on the global ideas list: If you can remember, list what the root of the problem was, and why you never forgave them or apologized to them. Chances are you won’t even remember why some things bothered you in the first place!

This monthly day of forgiveness would make it possible for everyone to start out a new month without worries of hard feelings between anyone. We all want world peace, right? But before we can worry about it on a world level, we have to deal with the crises and mini-wars in our own lives.

So what if someone did something really horrible to you? No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. Just use that one day to completely forgive and move on. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting, but learning from the experience and removing all traces of bitterness from it.

Look at it from the other side – wouldn’t it be wonderful to know that whatever you had done to hurt or harm someone that month would be forgiven? This should not be a license to act irresponsibly, but instead to look ahead and think, “Would I want to have to forgive someone for doing this to me?” Thinking about forgiving before committing the act might stop people from doing mean or wrong things.

Writing down the problems could help us see them from a more objective point of view. Bitter thoughts and emotions can multiply easily when we think about them, so putting them on paper takes them out of our heads so we can face them. Once you make the effort to forgive someone – calling them, visiting them

I’m not saying all problems are easy to forgive. Some are very complex and have many people involved, which means more relationships can be repaired at once.

Phone companies could offer free long distance on these days so that people could make “forgiveness calls.” Airlines, bus companies, trains and other transportation services could also offer reduced fares on this day to facilitate “forgiveness travel.” Restaurants could offer “forgiveness discounts” for people going out to eat with someone they have been upset with. Psychologists could have workshops on these days for people who are having trouble forgiving because of deep emotions.

So on the last day of every month, take out a piece of paper and write down all the emotions that you have kept inside. Write them all down, and as you forgive that person (make sure they know you have!), cross that problem off. One less thing to worry about!