Off the Hook!

[Annie-Pat]

Off the Hook!
A popular phrase, off the hook usually means something is absolutely terrific. “Wow, man, that is Off The Hook!”

I intend it for the something quite the opposite – negative circumstances. As in, LETTING people off the hook for something negative.

Better said, forgiveness.

You’re never going to forgive anything, if you don’t let it off the hook and let it go.

Some things feel too agregious to forgive, like abandonment, abuse or indifference. Especially when it happened to you as a child. You want vengeance and punishment. Me, too.

And no one likes to talk about it!
Can’t imagine why it stays buried in our psyches and our bodies…

You will keep feeling the pain UNLESS YOU FORGIVE IT. Time to let it go. Letting someone off the hook doesn’t set them free, IT SETS YOU FREE. Can you accept what happened w/o blame or shame? Can you accept that it hurt? When you can, forgiveness will follow.

CAUTION: Feel the feeling, but don’t attach to it. We pretend it didn’t affect us, or we’re “over it”, but we still walk around wearing the t-shirt, “I Was Hurt”. It’s beyond raggy, and it doesn’t smell great, either. Forgive. Let go of the t-shirt.

And on that same subject of letting folks off the hook, how about yourself , too? Imagine a special loved one and all the time, care and energy you give to them. Nothing is too much. Do you love yourself that way? I’m guessing, “no”.

If you’re in pain right now, I venture to say no one treated you as poorly as you are treating yourself. In fact that may be the definition of pain.

Holding on to the pain, the anger, the shame and blame is like taking poison and expecting someone else to die. [Buddha]

Off the hook.... let’s do this.