“Forgive!” (Photo credit: Grace Church)

Week #134 – Forgive!

Greetings Happyness Tribe!

Last week I talked about how we can Spread Happyness through feedback and follow-up.

Today I want to talk about forgiveness because…well, I needed a measure of grace this week.

And I didn’t get it.

I made a mistake.  An oversight.  An error in judgment.  Call it what you will.  It wasn’t intentional — and I made amends.  No one is dead and no one’s in jail (as I like to say).  Still, it may have cost me something I value.

But I may have received something more valuable in return: insight.

Forgiveness is hard.  I know.  I’ve been there.  But what I realized was this: it gets easier with practice.

A little grace, here and there, turns us into more compassionate beings overall: a little more understanding; a little more likely to give the benefit of the doubt; a little more willing to say, no harm no foul and go about our day; or a second more to consider the burden WE voluntarily pick up and agree to carry when we decide to hold a grudge.

I’m not suggesting you let your guard down to danger or compromise a healthy boundary.  Those are topics well beyond the scope of this site.  But this week — Spread Happyness, and let someone off the hook.  A hook you might not want to get stuck holding on to in the first place.

Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: FORGIVE!  Again, I’m not suggesting you pick up the big-ticket items, the deep wounds, and the outright betrayals that may be haunting you.  Just start small: forgive the guy in the car in front of you who is driving too slow; the lady at the grocery store who waits until the whole order is rung up and bagged to dig for her wallet; the clerk or the waiter who didn’t give you the best service this time around; or the fumbling trainee who is still learning the system. You get the idea.

It is SO EASY these days to complain, to call someone out, to cry foul.  And as customers, clients, and patrons — we may be right.  But just a small dose of compassion might change someone else’s day — and it might change yours even more!

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”  (Alexander Pope)

Spread Happyness — forgive someone this week!

4/7/17 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com