麻豆约拍

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Jaspreet Kaur

Good morning.

Recently, I was gifted a beautiful book by Masi Noor called Forgiveness is Really Strange. It looked into the health benefits and healing of forgiveness and explains, with some very helpful diagrams for those of us who aren鈥檛 scientists, what happens in our brains, bodies and even our communities when we choose to forgive.

It reminded me of the story of the late Congressman and civil rights activist, John Lewis.

In 1961, Lewis was one of the Freedom Riders attacked at the Rock Hill, South Carolina bus station. Many years later one of the attackers, Elwin Wilson, travelled to Washington, met with Lewis and apologised for his actions. Lewis forgave him. The two men became friends and made several appearances together, including one on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In the Sikh faith, Guru Arjun Dev Ji, the fifth Sikh Guru, tells us, 鈥淒on鈥檛 keep ill thoughts within your mind towards others, and there will be no suffering for you.鈥�

Forgiveness is indeed really strange, as Masi Noor鈥檚 book title emphasises. Deep down, I know ill thoughts and anger can ultimately lead to our own internal suffering.

Dear God, with your hand, protect me and guide me away from negative thinking and ill wishes, and instead, guide me towards forgiveness so that my pain can be destroyed.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh 鈥� 鈥淧raise to God鈥�

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