by COSS Blog Contributor Joann Homen

How many times have you laid in bed at night going over and over situations that have happened in your mind?
These situations often involve other people, and we usually have very specific emotions around the what happened and they are usually negative!
We go over and over and over the experience trying to understand it or sometimes just allowing ourselves to keep the heightened negative emotions going regarding the people and the experience.
This does not lead to restful sleep. I suggest before you go to bed, instead of rehashing experiences that cause you stress, instead release them each night to the creator to heal. BUT! This also means giving up attachments to the situations and the emotion attached to them.
I am NOT saying forget what happened, but I am saying work towards healing and forgiving all parties involved to reclaim that peacefulness in our life. I know this will NOT be an easy thing to do but this is something that is absolutely necessary if you want to reclaim peace in your life and get a good night sleep.
Forgiving allows for you to move past the experience and any people involved and grow beyond the hurt of it it. You are basically evicting negative experiences and the pain associated with them from living rent free in your mind. This frees your mind to seek out and enjoy the new and positive experiences that come your way.
Again, forgiving is not forgetting, but by forgiving, you will free your mind and allow yourself to live a fuller life, a life full of positive new experiences free from emotional suffering.
Now that's the way I choose to live my life!