One of the seeds of longevity is peace of the mind. When spiced with happiness and joy, along with sprays of wealth, it becomes a lot more enviable.
Malice eats into the fabrics of one's peace of mind. Of course you know, that's a path to a dead end. Forgiveness thus is the salvaging alternative here.
Forgiveness is the action of forgiving. You forgive when you let go of grudge. It entails letting go completely when an apology is tendered by the offender. Take note; letting go completely, that's a lot more, you must completely FORGET. A forgiven matter should never be brought to the board in subsequent matters arising. That's how much the sacrifice of forgiveness weighs.
You don't necessarily need to wait for the person who wronged you to come begging for your forgiveness or to come apologizing to you before you forgive. Even in the Bible (Matt. 18:22), when Peter asked the Lord how often we should forgive our brother, Jesus said to him 'seventy times seven'. Which means even when the person who wronged you never remembered to apologize or decides not to apologize, you just have to let go, you just have to continue forgiving.
There is this friend of mine who loves to make me angry whenever am with her. I usually leave her house with a seed of anger after every visit. This began to eat me up, sincerely it wasn't healthy for me, so I decided to set my heart and mind to default forgiveness; forgiving her before even before she makes me angry, that is forgiveness.
Now before I proceed, give up pride; learn to say "I am sorry". That is one clause that can perform wonders. It can heal relationships, it can save lives and many more.
Nevertheless, as I mentioned earlier, we should not wait for our friends who wronged us to say sorry first before we forgive them.
Why should we forgive each other?
We should forgive ourselves so that we can live longwhen we forgive...We have peace of mind; we are happy that we forgave and we are forgiven, this way relationships are mended and the world is made better. As a person, I love being happy, thus, for me to keep my mind light and be happy, I have to continue forgiving.
That's what I learnt from my mother. That's one of her secrets of her healthy and happy life thus far.
