Forgiveness for Open Hearted Children

Energetic Vocabulary Words

Forgiveness - having genuine compassion for a situation where we have felts wronged and converting the energy into a gift rather than a curse.

Victim Energy - the false idea that you have been injured in some way and have no power over the situation. 

The energy of being "wronged"

There are genuine victim situations out there, or course, but lets home most of our children will ever see those situations. However, we all get stuck in feeling sorry for ourselves and giving our power away to the idea that we have been "wronged." It is often a feeling we get when our boundaries are being violated. The act of reestablishing those boundaries is often delayed by this sense of victimization or needing to be justified in the hurt.

When kids learn to take their awareness to the victim energy, use it as a messenger of a temporary condition and then respond with that awareness they can more easily shift back to empowered ways of thinking. 

Some children really related to victim energy, so you can't force it. This is just offering them a new tool if they choose to use it. 

Some tools

Mirrors

Teach the child to see the person as a mirror of something inside of them rather than identifying with the separation. Ask them to identify similar things about themselves that they see in the person wronging them. You can use an actual mirror or have them draw it out.

Searching for gifts

Looking for the gifts in something is a great way to reframe things. Sit down and let the child write down on small pieces a paper all the things that happened that hurt. Fold them up and put them in a jar or bowl.

Then have your child write down all the good things that happened because of the situation and small pieces of paper. You can do this for them too and make it a surprise.  Fold them up and put them in the jar. Try and think of as many as you can. 

Then shake up the bowl and pick out a piece at a time. Put the bad stuff in one pile and the good stuff in another. Reading through each one again. Then take the bad pile and throw it away. Ask the child (with your help) to reframe the good stuff in a present moment statement, reminding them to take that with them and leave the painful stuff behind.

Feel free to add your own suggestions to the comments section!