Forgiveness opens our consciousness to inherent yet constant flow of universal love. By forgiving others, we experience compassion, we become non-judgmental, and we create unity by accepting others as they are.

In terms of karma, those who live according to an "eye-for-an-eye" philosophy create unhealthy patterns. For instance, let's say you have chosen to refrain from giving to others because you feel you are equally or more deserving. You are creating a self-fulfilling, cyclic pattern where you are not giving and you are not receiving. But on other hand, when you forgive others who have not given to you, and become true giving and loving person you are, you then heal this negative pattern.

Forgive others for what they have or have not done, for what they say or do not say, and realize we are all beings of love. But before you can forgive others, it is important to first forgive yourself for your own mistakes and accept yourself for who you are.

To help you in this quest for forgiveness, complete following ritual daily:

Robert Elias Najemy

Part 3 of a 5 part series on creating a Positive Life Outlook

Some fear that if we accept ourselves as we are, that we will have no motive to improve ourselves.

There is a small possibility that self-acceptance might cause a few people to loose interest in self-improvement. In most cases, however, it opens door towards natural change and self-betterment.

Contrary to what many think, self-acceptance is usually a prerequisite to moving beyond aspects of our selves which we would like to leave behind.

It is as if that aspect which we want to change is another person whom we are rejecting and asking to be different. They will usually resist and become even more deeply entrenched in behaviors we would like to them to change.

The same seems to happen when we reject aspects of ourselves. Those tendencies or "sub-personalities" tend to resist letting go of their ways of functioning and behaving. Thus, we often delay our freedom from such undesired habits or characteristics when we reject them or ourselves for having them.

Say for example, we smoke or eat or drink too much. Or we might tend towards aggressiveness, jealousy, anger, fear or other unwanted emotions. We might prefer to be more assertive and dynamic in achieving our goals.

Rather than reject ourselves for what we would like to change, a much more effective approach is to:

1. Accept that undesired aspect of ourselves as a natural evolutionary response to various stresses, disappointments, difficulties, and challenges we have encountered until now in our lives. We have developed these habits and tendencies as an attempt to "protect" our selves from "dangers" or to "relax" from our tensions.

2. Learn to understand these aspects of our being. They are parts of us, which deserves our love and acceptance as it is. We need to understand what those parts of ourselves are actually seeking through those behavior. They might be seeking security, affirmation, freedom or perhaps release of tension.

Our "aspects" or sub-personalities can search for security in money, food, relationships, sex, smoking, coffee or even through conflict. We have been programmed to doubt our security and self-worth and to fear for our freedom and to seek them at times in strange and sometimes self-destructive ways.

Thus second step is to understand these parts of ourselves and realize how they feel and what they need.