The Key

The following is an edited excerpt from The Key. It is the essence of what Vitale is trying to communicate.

Please Forgive Me: If you feel stuck in any area of your life ... it could very well be due to a lack of forgiveness.

Maybe you didn’t forgive the other person. Maybe you didn’t forgive yourself. It doesn’t matter. Holding on to past emotions, memories, or stories are guaranteed to tie up your energy and block your ability to attract what you want.

What you have to do now is forgive.

I used to struggle with this one. I was afraid that if I forgave someone, I would not learn the lesson they gave me and I would be suckered again. But as I looked at that belief, I realised it was just that: a belief. It wasn’t reality. It wasn’t factual. It wasn’t true.
But let’s look at this more closely so you understand forgiveness and the power of it as a clearing method.

Forgiving another person is, in part, an ego trip. When you say “I forgive you” to someone, you are saying you had some sort of hold over them. You were the King or Queen, and by the “I forgive you” decree you could pronounce them “free” of your resentment. That’s not forgiveness. It may even be a form of manipulation.

What’s more powerful is to say “I’m sorry” to the people you hurt.

A couple of decades ago I made a list of people I felt I had hurt. I went to them and paid them money if I owed it; returned tools or objects if I had walked off with them, and told them I was sorry for my behaviour. I did my best to make peace with my past. It was a wonderful feeling.
I also know there is a level of forgiveness beyond being forgiven by others or forgiving others. The forgiveness that becomes one of the most powerful clearing methods you can use in an instant is the one where you forgive yourself.

It’s your perception of a situation or person that is an error. It’s not the other person. Yes, they may have done something you prefer they hadn’t done. But it’s your judgment of them that causes the friction. When you let go of your judgment, you free yourself. And often, when you free yourself, the other person does what you wanted all along. But your motivation has to come from forgiveness of you.