Awakenings with David Cunningham
Awakenings is a podcast with David Cunningham exploring consciousness, awareness, love, and the deeper questions that shape how we experience life. Through thoughtful conversations and reflections, the show invites listeners to see themselves, their relationships, and the world with greater clarity and presence.
Awakenings with David Cunningham
Forgiveness is not what you think
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Forgiveness is one of the most misunderstood ideas in human life.
Many people think forgiving someone means condoning what happened, approving of it, or letting the other person off the hook.
But forgiveness is none of that.
Forgiveness is not about pretending something didn’t hurt. It’s not about tolerating behavior that should not be tolerated. It’s a personal choice about the kind of life you are going to live.
In this video, David Cunningham offers a powerful reframe: forgiveness is not something you do for the other person. It is something you give yourself. It is the choice to stop leading a resentful life and return to a loving one.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:
◻️ Why forgiveness does not mean approving what happened
◻️ The difference between forgiveness and tolerance
◻️ Why resentment quietly shapes the life you end up living
◻️ How forgiveness gives you your own life back
◻️ Why your happiness is connected to your way of being
◻️ A simple statement that can begin the act of forgiveness
Forgiveness does not erase what happened.
It gives you the freedom to choose who you will be after it happened.
👉 Join the Awakening Weekends:
https://theawakeningweekend.com
If you’re ready to move beyond understanding this intellectually and actually live it, the Awakening Weekends are where that happens. It’s a space to experience what it means to show up differently and leave a completely different impact on the people around you.
👉 Watch David’s free video on ending self-criticism:
https://endingselfcriticism.com
If this message resonates, this is the best place to go deeper. It will shift how you relate to yourself and everything else builds from there.
What about forgiveness? People tell me they have a struggle sometimes forgiving. I think that's because our notion of forgiveness is that somehow if we forgive somebody, it condones what they did, it approves of what they did, it gives them permission to do it again, or it lets them off the hook with no consequences. So people are afraid to forgive because they're afraid that their forgiving will condone or excuse what the other person did, or at least let them off the hook with no consequences. Well, consider that forgiveness is none of that. So you can give up that concern. Forgiveness is none of that. Forgiveness is one thing and one thing only. It's a choice, a very personal choice we each make about the life we're gonna live. Another person did something that offended us, hurt us in some way. Now we have a choice. Are we going to lead a resentful life or are we going to lead a forgiving life? This is not a moralistic conversation, what we should do. This is about your happiness, our happiness as a human being. You'll notice we're not happy leading a resenting life. We're only really happy as human beings when we're leading a loving life. So when you forgive somebody, it's actually not even for them, it's for yourself. You're giving yourself a life to live. For give. I give my love to this person as I did before anything happened. Forgive. Giving your love as you did before anything happened. Forgiveness. It starts with a statement. I could resent you and I choose not to. I choose to continue to give you my love. I am going to give you my love as I did before anything happened. Notice, they may enjoy that, but it's really for you. It's you choosing the life you're going to live. It gives you the opportunity to love the living of your life because when you're being loving, you love the living of your life. That means no matter what they did, it ultimately doesn't impact you or the quality of your life because the quality of your life comes from your way of being. So forgiveness. You don't have to worry that it condones or approves of what they did. Forgiveness and tolerance are not the same thing. You can forgive, you can give your love to somebody and not tolerate their behavior. You can give your love to somebody and make it crystal clear that you don't accept that certain behavior on their part. So forgiveness is one thing and one thing only. It's your choice about the life you lead. Will you lead a resentful life or will you lead a loving life? Forgiveness. It's yours. It's a gift you give yourself in the face of something that happened that was upsetting. It's a grace you give yourself. Forgiveness, most powerful tool we have in the living of our lives.