Every three months, I take a yoga challenge. I practice hot yoga for thirty consecutive days and I also give myself thirty reasons to forgive.

 

Here are fifteen of my favourite from my last challenge:

 

1. I forgive because holding onto judgements about myself and others only shackles my mind and soul to negativity.

 

2. I forgive because I want to remember more than what has been done wrong to me.

 

3. I forgive because we are all humans. Counting what is wrong with others will only bring me down, how long can I keep fighting for?

 

4. I forgive because I am not a victim. Anything that has been done to me was not under my control.

 

5. I forgive because I will not allow negative people and negative situations to have a hold over my life.

 

6. I forgive because today is too beautiful to be spent judging and scrutinizing people around me.

 

7. I forgive because if I don't move past offense, I will drive myself crazy.

 

8. I forgive because I don't expect people to be kind, I merely appreciate those who are. The only way that I can appreciate those who are kind, is by forgiving those who are unkind.

 

9. I forgive because what has happened, has happened. It is time to let it go.

 

10. I forgive because in this imperfect human body I am in no state to hold anything against anyone.

 

11. I forgive because I can't expect others to live by my expectations.

 

12. I forgive because I can't re-write the past and I don't want to.

 

13. I forgive because my sense of peace is not worth sacrificing over something that happened in the past.

 

14. I forgive because I want to wish others well- including those who have hurt me.

 

15. I forgive because I want to have hope. Hope is not obtained by holding onto what has gone wrong