4 People you absolutely have to forgive

There are four people you absolutely need to forgive. If you are serious about changing your life and learning how to live in the now, you need to let go.

1. Your Parents

The first are your mom and dad, living or dead. You must forgive them for every mistake they ever made in bringing you up. You should be grateful to them for giving you life. They got you here. If you are happy to be alive, you can forgive them for everything else. Never complain about them again.

On the other hand, by not forgiving your parents, you remain forever a child. You block your own chance to grow up and become a fully functioning adult.

2. Ex partners

The second person or persons you must forgive are the people from your past relationships. These intimate relationships can be so intense, and so threatening to your feelings of self-esteem and self-worth, that you can be angry and unforgiving toward those people for years.

But you were at least partially responsible. Have the personal strength and integrity to say, “I am responsible,” and then forgive the other person and let him or her go.

3. Everyone who hurt you

The third person you must forgive is everyone else in your life who has ever hurt you in any way. Let them go. Forgive every boss, business partner, friend, crook or betrayer who has ever caused you grief of any kind. Clean the slate and forgive to forget.

4. Yourself

The fourth and final person you have to forgive is yourself.

You must absolutely forgive yourself for every stupid, senseless, wicked, dumb, thoughtless or cruel thing you have ever done or said. Stop carrying these past mistakes around with you. That was then and this is now.

Think of it this way. When you did those things in the past that you still feel badly about, you were not the person you are today. At that time, you were a different person, younger and less experienced. You were not your true self. You were an immature version of the person you have become with experience. Stop beating yourself up for something that occurred in the past that you cannot change.