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Mental Pain and Forgiveness

Mental Pain and Forgiveness



Like the pervasive blare of a klaxon’s shocking

Disharmony, or as quietly, dull and throbbing

As a toothache’s fevered misery, isn’t mental

Pain one of the worst things we can endure?



It steals upon us, unawares, as the consequences

Of our feckless, heedless actions, boomeranging

Back to each one of us as the sums of misspent,

Karmic iterations of intentions lacking clarity.



Mental pain is often braved as grim, trembling

Fear, or its awful, destructive twin, lurid anger

And hate. First visiting when we’re young and

Have no defense to protect us against those who,

Even unawares, caused us such lingering harms.



There are many ways to mask or redirect mental

Pain: addictions, work, sex, psychotropic drugs,

And psychotherapy; even religion and prayers

Can lift its weight for a time, but not for good.



Efforts to quash those skulking pains that lie in

Wait in our tender psyches, to emerge, always at

The worst possible times, often lull us into placid

Complacencies, such as, ‘it isn’t too much to bear.

What I got from the doctor seem to be working,

What a relief to not suffer those mental pains.”



But they’ll return until they’re dealt with, finally,

For good. Forgiving oneself for the blame we’ve

Taken upon ourselves, often at an early age, is one

Of the most effective ways to put those cruel pains

Away. They’ll always remain, as shadows of what

Used to be, but only as the lingering, half-forgotten

Echoes of the old intensities of pain we lived with

For so long, suffering helplessly. It won’t be easy.



Many disagree and say anger is good, its energies

Can be redirected to positive outcomes. But I say,

Nothing good ever comes of fear, anger or hate.

None of them will ever create a permanent legacy

Of genuine mental peace like self-forgiveness can.



Without constructive solutions to the toxic miasmas

Of fear, anger and hate, we’ll continue to suffer mental

Pain, doomed to a life of despair about our chances to

Experience the blessings of self-forgiveness, and the

Renewal of good mental health. One practical solution

Lies in the difficult but valuable art of self-forgiveness.