Radical Forgiveness Part 1
Radical Forgiveness
Podcast Summary
There are seasons in life that invite us—sometimes gently, sometimes abruptly—to shed the layers of illusion we’ve wrapped ourselves in. We find ourselves standing face-to-face with the discomfort, the betrayal, the confusion, wondering how to make sense of it all. Forgiveness is often offered as the way through. But what does forgiveness truly look like when the pain runs deep? When we can’t just “move on” or put a spiritual bow on something that broke us open?
In this episode of The Awakening Process 101, Louise and I explore a different flavor of forgiveness—one that doesn’t ask you to bypass your truth, but rather, meet it. We explore the concept of radical forgiveness, rooted in the spiritual understanding that every experience, every trigger, and every rupture might just be an invitation to remember who we truly are. This isn’t about excusing harm. It’s about reclaiming the energy we’ve bound to the past and allowing our pain to become a portal. A sacred return. A softening back into self.
The Concept and Spiritual Meaning of Radical Forgiveness
Radical forgiveness, as we explored in this episode, is not an intellectual idea. It’s a frequency—a lived, felt orientation toward life that allows us to stop resisting what is and begin trusting what’s unfolding. Through the lens of Colin Tipping’s work, we touched on the idea that every soul in our life—even the ones who hurt us—might be playing a divine role in our evolution. This doesn’t mean condoning harmful behavior, but it does mean entertaining the possibility that the people who crack us open are, in some strange and sacred way, helping us wake up.
This kind of forgiveness is not passive. It’s a courageous energetic recalibration. It invites us to ask: What if nothing has gone wrong? What if the breakup, the rupture, the betrayal—were all part of our soul’s curriculum? From that space, we begin to untether from victim consciousness and anchor into personal truth. Radical forgiveness doesn’t ask us to forget. It asks us to see differently. It’s about moving beyond the narrative and into the deeper field of trust, where we can hold both our pain and our power without needing to choose between them.
Personal Journeys of Forgiveness and Self-Awareness
Forgiveness became real for me in the raw, unfiltered spaces where life didn’t follow my plan. When my husband entered rehab, I was cracked open. My nervous system, my belief systems, my sense of control—it all came undone. In the early days, I wanted to blame. I wanted to fix. But beneath all that was a whisper: What is this showing you about you? And that’s when everything started to shift. The external circumstance was just the surface—my real work was in reclaiming the parts of myself I had abandoned long before.
Louise shared a powerful reflection about her divorce—how, after years of inner work, she found the courage to reach out to her former partner and speak the truth of her heart. Not to reopen wounds, but to offer accountability for how her own childhood trauma had shaped their dynamic. That conversation wasn’t about resolution—it was about reclamation. Together, we reflected on how radical forgiveness begins the moment we stop looking outward for relief and start asking ourselves what wants to be seen within. These personal stories aren’t shared to prescribe a path, but to reveal what becomes possible when we choose truth over protection.
Practical Tools and Daily Practices for Forgiveness
Forgiveness isn’t a destination. It’s a devotion. A moment-by-moment choice to soften where we’ve hardened, to see where we’ve been stuck in loops of blame, and to open just a little more to what is. One of the most transformative tools we spoke about in the episode is the pause. That breath before the reaction. That sacred still point that allows the nervous system to regulate and the heart to speak. When we pause, we remember we are not our pain. We create space for a new choice to emerge.
We also explored self-inquiry as a daily sacred practice—not from a place of self-judgment, but from radical curiosity. Questions like, What part of me is activated here? or What am I trying to control? become doorways into awareness. My time in Al-Anon taught me so much about energetic boundaries and co-dependency—how often I’d confuse love with fixing. In the episode, we closed with a guided meditation—a quiet return to the body, to breath, to the energetic field where forgiveness lives not as a thought, but as a felt experience. These practices don’t offer quick relief. They offer real integration, one breath at a time.
Conclusion
Forgiveness isn’t something we do to be “good.” It’s something we choose when we’re ready to be free. Free from the stories, the loops, the lingering pain we carry in our bodies. Free from the expectation that someone else will make it right. Radical forgiveness is about energetic liberation—about coming back into integrity with ourselves. And it’s not always graceful. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes it hurts. But it’s always holy.
If you’re holding something heavy—if there’s someone or something you just can’t seem to let go of—I want to remind you that you don’t have to get it perfect. You don’t have to force yourself to forgive. Just begin by getting curious. Breathe. Soften. Ask what’s really asking to be seen. Forgiveness, as I’ve learned, is not an endpoint. It’s a path back to wholeness. A way of remembering who you are beyond the wound. And when we walk that path, even in small steps, we meet our most radiant, powerful selves again.
