This post discusses the power of forgiveness as a healing tool.
Ho’oponopono is a forgiveness and reconciliation practice that has been practiced on the islands of the South Pacific, including Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and New Zealand for generations, and it roughly translates into English as “correction.” The ho’oponopono forgiveness phrases are: I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.
Whenever I find I’ve become emotionally triggered and am not being my best self — if I’m projecting, judging, or blaming — I try to remember to use the ho’oponopono phrases to reset my mind. That is one way I practice forgiveness in my everyday life.
Table of Contents
Who is Betsy Leighton?
I’m a writer, blogger, and healer dedicated to helping individuals reconnect with their innate peace and wholeness by healing nervous system dysregulation. My personal experience with chronic illness called Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) shapes my work, and my content offers tools to empower those with chronic illness to improve their well-being and take charge of their health.
I created the Sacred Self-Healing Method and am a trained and certified Safe and Sound Protocol provider, an author, blogger, and A Course in Miracles Teacher. I hold a Master of Divinity in Spiritual Counseling and am a trained spiritual mentor, with certificates in sound healing, aromatherapy, nutrition, and Sacred Deathcare. I offer a self-study certificate program in the Sacred Self-Healing Method, provide spiritual counseling and coaching, courses, and supported subscriptions for the Safe and Sound Protocol.
What is MCAS?
Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) is a chronic condition that affects all organ systems. It can cause severe, disabling symptoms every day, including potentially fatal anaphylaxis. MCAS often occurs with other chronic conditions like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS). Managing MCAS is challenging because many healthcare providers are unaware of it, and diagnostic tests can be unreliable. Treatments include antihistamines and mast cell stabilizers, as well as avoiding triggers. Check out this post on managing MCAS.
Why forgiveness?
Forgiveness feels amazing. Forgiveness puts you in the flow of LOVE. It connects you with your Source and sets you up to go through your day in the flow. When you choose forgiveness, you are bothered less by minor setbacks, and you are more loving. Forgiveness is a choice to connect with a higher vibration, feel better, and let go of what you think defines you.
What do you mean by forgiveness?
Forgiveness has gotten a bad rap in our modern world because people think of it through a particular lens — the way religion, especially the Christian faith, portrays it.
Forgiveness is a core principle of the Sacred Self-Healing Method. And by forgiveness, I mean as A Course in Miracles views it, or the Course, or ACIM, as it is sometimes known, which is not a religion.
Dualism
Modern society is dualistic, so everything is good/bad, high/low, and rich/poor. And that reasoning underpins our system of retributive justice, where there must be a punishment for every wrong.
So with dualism, you may think of forgiveness as pardoning an offender, no matter what happened, and losing your power in the process. Or you might think about a victim telling a perpetrator to their face that they are forgiven. But this is not how I teach forgiveness.
It’s in your mind
From my perspective, forgiveness is a matter between you and God, not you and anyone else. The Course does not ask you to forgive a person or a situation; the Course suggests that you only want to see it differently.
This radically changes how you view everything.
When you experience a difficult or horrible situation, it still happens; it is the truth and reality as we know it on Earth. When something terrible happens, you still have to deal with it. But when you decide with your mind to see it differently, it causes a massive shift. You can still have your feelings about it AND choose not to have it define you anymore.
It’s a miracle
A miracle is a shift in perception that happens when you forgive, and the result of this shift is always peace, sometimes immediate and other times over a longer timespan.
Your split mind
The problems you experience are not in the world; they are in your mind. And your mind is split between thinking or choosing with your ego, which wants to keep things retributive, and your right mind, which chooses love.
The visual image I have of the split mind is this: When I realize I have made a mistake and need to forgive someone, I imagine a screen in my mind. When the screen is pulled to the right, I see bright white light in my mind’s eye, the light of truth, and this is my right mind. When the screen is pulled to the left, as it is most of the time when I am not conscious of what I am thinking or choosing, there is darkness, and I am with my ego.
To correct this, I say to myself that I want to choose to see with my right mind, and I pull the screen in my mind’s eye to the right, to let in the light.
The primary goal of forgiveness is peace. Peace is your birthright. You decide to see things differently so that you can be at peace. It’s not easy, but totally worth it.
Intention
Sacred Self-Healing relies on intention and frequency. Intention directs frequency to bring about healing. The universal formula for healing is:
Intention + Frequency = Healing.
In this expression, “frequency” refers to the specific healing modality being applied. Setting an intention is particularly beneficial when utilizing self-healing methods such as frequency and forgiveness. This post covers more information on the power of intention.
Beneficial Frequency
Beneficial frequency refers to natural vibrations that synchronize biological and Earth systems, to support overall harmony. For instance, visible red and blue light from the sun are beneficial frequencies because they regulate circadian rhythms. Likewise, Earth’s Schumann resonance is a naturally occurring frequency that aligns internal and external rhythms for health. This post discusses beneficial frequency in more depth.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness, like love, is seen as a high-frequency energetic state connected to compassion and gratitude. In contrast, emotions such as resentment and anger are thought to have lower frequencies, constricting rather than elevating well-being. Forgiveness helps elevate energy, promote emotional healing, and support physiological balance. Science hasn’t measured the frequency of forgiveness, but studies show that forgiveness can improve heart and brain patterns and help the body work more smoothly. Forgiveness brings balance, healing, and peace—both emotionally and physically. This post delves deeper into forgiveness.
Intention and frequency healing
All frequency healing works on the intention you set. With an intention, you catapult your healing by directing frequency exactly where you want to apply it. Without an intention, you will still receive some benefits from frequency healing, but it can take much longer. Intention is the key to getting the most out of anything in life.
Intention setting is powerful because it signals your willingness to see things differently. And all it takes to put forgiveness in motion is a little willingness. So, intentions are more than goals; they join you with your Higher Teacher. When you set an intention, you combine your desire to be a partner in your healing with the seen and unseen forces at work in the Universe. Quantum physics has found that our thoughts can influence animate and inanimate objects. The same holds in your life. Whatever you put loving thoughts or positive energy into is more likely to come to fruition. You can influence your emotional, physical, and spiritual state by setting intentions.
The power of combining forgiveness with frequency
Forgiveness is just like any frequency modality, and when you combine forgiveness with Sound, Aroma, or a Frequency Device, you reap orders of magnitude in healing potential.
The bucket theory
The bucket theory simplifies understanding symptom reactions with MCAS. Imagine your body as an empty bucket you don’t want to overflow. Reactions to various stimuli fill the histamine bucket at different rates, forming the total histamine level (how full your bucket is). More histamine means more symptoms. By managing triggers, reducing exposures, and taking medications and supplements, you can control your bucket’s level.
Know your typical symptom progression
Understanding your symptom progression during a flare is key to developing your rescue plan. This post discusses how to recognize symptom progression so you can be prepared to address them.
Get my free ebook, symptom log, and meal plan!
Want a tool to easily track your symptoms?
Check out these circadian health tools!
I’m an affiliate with Bon Charge, a company that makes tools for circadian health, and you can receive 15% off your order with my coupon code BETSYL.
Bon Charge offers tools such as yellow– and red-tone blue-blocking glasses, red light therapy devices, PEMF mats, infrared saunas, and EMF-blocking products.
Sign up for the SSP!
I’ve found the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) to be the most helpful bottom-up healing strategy if your nervous system has been overloaded with toxic exposures, including mold or non-native EMFs, chronic infections, concussions, stress, or trauma. The SSP is a passive listening therapy based on Polyvagal Theory that helps heal nervous system dysregulation. Many people with MCAS and other chronic conditions have nervous system dysregulation stemming from infections, toxic exposures, concussions, and trauma. The SSP is an easy-to-use app that lets you listen to specially filtered music for 30 minutes each day as part of a 5-hour cycle. Studies show the SSP has a profound effect on mental health and chronic conditions. Here’s a short podcast describing the Safe and Sound Protocol.
You can sign up for the SSP here!
Heal your mind!
While the SSP is a bottom-up, somatic therapy for healing the nervous system, the Sacred Self-Healing Method I offer is a top-down nervous system-healing modality that focuses on cognition, attention, perception, and emotion, using the mind’s higher functions. The SSP and the Sacred Self-Healing Method complement each other and together produce lasting results. Here’s a short podcast on my self-healing practice.
I provide one-on-one in-person and remote chronic illness and caregiver coaching, as well as Sacred Self-Healing Sessions based on the Sacred Self-Healing Method, a proven, novel co-creative healing modality detailed in my Books.
Order my books!
Here’s a short podcast highlighting my five books.
My latest book, Living In The Light: Healing with Forgiveness, Sound, and Light, is all about the tools that have been most helpful for me to heal: forgiveness, sound, through nervous system retraining using the Safe and Sound Protocol, and light, through entraining my circadian rhythm with the energy of the sun. Living In The Light is available here!
Rocks and Roots chronicles my solo backpacking journey on the Superior Hiking Trail and my efforts to overcome nervous system dysregulation, gut dysbiosis, and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome symptoms to complete the 328-mile hike successfully.
The Sacred Self-Healing Method ebook is available here and in most ebook retailers!
The Sacred Self-Healing Workbook is available for purchase here!
Betsy’s first book, Sacred Self-Healing: Finding Peace Through Forgiveness, is available here
Companion Recordings
The companion audio recordings of chants, guided meditations, and sound healing demonstrations that accompany the Sacred Self-Healing Method are available for free on my YouTube channel here
What do you think?
I’d love to have your reply below!
Disclaimer
The preceding material does not constitute medical advice. This information is for information purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, cure, or treatment.
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