On the first Sat of Mahe Ramadhan 1435, at the Jaffari Islamice Centre in Toronto, Sr. Marzia Hassan, a relationship consultant led a workshop titled “Practicing Forgiveness – Moving from Resentment towards Peace".
The workshop was well attended by the ladies of the community. Despite being late at night, it ended up being quite a lively experience with a lot of interesting questions, comments and some personal examples that people had to share. A
As always, Sr. Marzia did an excellent job facilitating and sharing some valuable points, not forgetting her favorite closing the eyes, breathing and imagining exercises. Some of the key points highlighted in the topic were that resentment is the beginning and hate is the ending of a process where people are injured and offended. We are therefore encouraged to allow ourselves to feel the hurt before letting it go instead of just curbing it within. Furthermore, ways in which resentment is formed, and the process involved, was discussed.
The presenter went on to define forgiveness as being able to drop resentments and giving up claims on the offender with no strings attached. Several steps towards forgiveness were suggested including some core components wherein a person is encouraged to view the offense less personally. When a person is able to take responsibility for his/her own emotional experience, s/he is then also able to change the story to reflect a heroic choice to grow and prosper!
Most people in attendance would agree that they left the workshop feeling a lot lighter and highly motivated to reduce their emotional baggage!
For more inspiration from Sr. Marzia visit her website or like her Facebook pages Marzia Hassan (Public Figure) and Loving and Learning the Quran.