Forgiveness

I read a quote this morning and I have been thinking about it all day:

“One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before you go to bed.” Bernard Baruch

I googled ‘Bernard Baruch’ and discovered that he was an Americal financier, stock investor, philanthropist, statesman and political consultant. He was born in 1870 and died in 1965, so he is definitely the poster child for his own quote!

Hmmmm. It sounds too simple! However, upon reflection, I have found that, in my experience, the most true things do seem to be very simple! It is we humans who tend to complicate things!

I read the quote as part of a reflection posted today by Shelley Klammer, an art therapist I follow and admire.

She offered the following poem:

Everybody

Everything

Every night.

I have written this on a sticky note to post right beside my bed, where I will see it just before I go to sleep. Somehow, I think if I had read this pre-pandemic I might have resisted it, thinking of people and situations I didn’t want to forgive. But now, during the pandemic, this quote is really appealing to me and I want to try it out. In addition to good nutrition, sleep, fresh air walks, making art, walking labyrinths, prayer and all the other practices I have shared with you, I want to add this one to my daily routine, and I want to invite you to join me in it, if it appeals to you, too, to try.

Sleep well tonight!

May we all live long and fruitful lives.. maybe even, like Bernard Baruch, til we make it to age 95!