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I was not raised in the Jewish tradition, but I can appreciate wisdom and soul-nourishing activities in all spiritual traditions. I’m re-blogging this from The Daily Muse. What a beautiful thought — one that I hope we can all embrace.
In honor of Yom Kippur and with love I share with you 
this lovely “Litany of Atonement” by Rob Eller-Issacs.
“For remaining silent when a single voice would have made a difference-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For each time that our fears have made us rigid and inaccessible-
I forgive myself, I forgive you: We begin again in love.
For each time that we have struck out in anger without just cause-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For each time that our greed has blinded us to the needs of others-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For the selfishness which sets us apart and alone-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For falling short of the admonitions of the spirit-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For losing site of our unity-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.
For those and so many acts both evident and subtle which have fueled the illusion of separateness-
I forgive myself, I forgive you; We begin again in love.”~Reverend Rob Eller-Issacs from “Litany of Atonement”
Peace With My Life 
Forgiving isn’t easy. It isn’t words. It doesn’t work to say, I forgive you, and then go on hurting and blaming. Inasmuch as I understand the meaning of forgiveness, I am working on not blaming and not hurting inside of myself for whatever injury I feel someone did to me. When you can remember the injustice, but don’t hurt any more, is that forgiving? Not really. It may mean you quit caring about the person who hurt you? One has to be careful there, because often that is exactly what it means.
So, I set myself the goal of having genuine value for the person I think injured me; working on not letting the injury continue to hurt me by working on not ruminating on the injury….the wound can’t heal if we continue to chew on it. Sometimes a good ole heart to heart talk with the person who injures you can help. But they have to also be working on forgiving for that to work. Do we just take injury after injury from the same person…on and on and on? Someplace there has to be a stopping place so forgiveness can make some headway. There needs to be some sincere valuing of each other for forgiveness to be authentic. Otherwise, what we think is forgiveness might really be just ceasing to care, ceasing to value that person. Gradually, one day you realize the memory of the injustice isn’t so strong any more. When the day arrives that you realize you aren’t sure what hurt you or why it hurt so much and the memory seems so faded and worn out that it ceases to exist in your memory file, then…..maybe you have forgiven.
Mom
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