Forgiveness has never been simple for me. People often speak of it as though it is something we can reach for easily, but my own life has shown me otherwise. Forgiveness grows slowly. It asks us to sit with what has shaped us, including the experiences we never asked for and the hurts we carried long before we knew how to name them. It asks for honesty, patience, and a willingness to meet our own heart with understanding rather than judgement. Over time, something begins to shift inside us, not because the past has changed, but because we have grown strong enough to stop carrying its weight in the same way.
For many years I held emotions that were heavy and deeply layered. Some were born from my own choices. Others were created by moments I had no power over, yet somehow I absorbed their weight as though it belonged to me. I carried guilt that was never mine. I carried shame that had been handed to me. I carried stories that shaped the way I saw myself long before I learned that I was allowed to release them.
Through time, through healing, and through a deepening understanding of my own heart, I began to see that forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is not about pretending. It is not about excusing. Forgiveness begins with truth.
The truth that what has happened cannot be undone.
The truth that holding the weight of it keeps the heart closed.
The truth that the heart cannot heal while it is wrapped tightly around pain.
When I finally allowed myself to acknowledge these truths, something shifted within me. Not a softening of the past, but a softening toward myself. I began to see that I had carried far too much for far too long. My releasing did not happen at once. It came in moments of honesty, in small acts of courage, and in choosing to meet myself with compassion.
And as I released, something unexpected happened. I did not feel diminished. I felt restored. Strength rose not from enduring the weight of the past but from acknowledging that I no longer needed to carry it.
This song, From Release to Forgiveness, rises from that part of my journey. It holds the quiet turning that takes place within the heart. It reflects the moment I understood that forgiveness is not something we give away. It is something we give to ourselves. It is the choice to live from the truth of who we are now, not from the wounds we once held.
As you listen, may it create a gentle pause within you.
A pause to breathe.
A pause to reflect.
A pause to consider what no longer needs to be carried.
Forgiveness is not something we give away.
Forgiveness is something we give to ourselves.
