Forgiveness Through Writing
Forgiveness Through Writing is a course I developed for the Daily Om--with over 800,000 subscribers, the Daily Om is the web's premier self-development website. My course was published on September 21, 2010 (the fall equinox, and coincidentally the first day of filming on my short film Good Luck, Mr. Gorski).
I was asked to develop the course after the publication of my book LOVE CHILD: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found, which is about coming to terms with the loss of my mother in a car crash when I was four, and finding my place in the tangled web that makes up my family. Andrew Harvey, the mystic, and bestselling author of numerous books including translations of Rumi and The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism, called it:
“A masterpiece of astute and unshrinking compassion, an encouragement to all of us to face the turmoil and complexities of our past with forgiveness, humble self-knowledge and openness to the mysterious and often paradoxical rhythms of healing. Allegra Huston has written a book that will last and inspire, and I salute her for her art and her courage.”
The Course
Forgiveness Through Writing is an 8-week course which takes you through a process of forgiving yourself, your family, your friends, and your fate, by playing in the imagination. It combines the techniques we use in the Imaginative Storm Writing Workshops with what I have learned in my four decades of life (the Love Child page will tell you all about that).
Here's the description of the course:
We all grow hard shells to protect us from the pains of life. Those shells often keep joy out and pain in. Forgiveness breaks down the shell and returns you to a place of harmony with the people in your life, and with your destiny. Forgiveness makes you powerful by releasing you from the bonds of pain. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.
But forgiveness isn't always easy to achieve. Probably you've tried, but the dragons of anger in your mind keep breathing fire. Perhaps you are tormented by resentment and bitterness and an anguish that won't go away. The trick to forgiveness is not to force it into existence with an act of will. You already know that doesn't work. Forgiveness is an act of grace.
This course gives you the tools to remove the shell and open your heart to the grace of forgiveness. We'll do it with pen, paper, and imagination - and it won't hurt. Instead, you'll laugh. With laughter comes freedom, insight, and a renewed sense of solidarity with your fellow travellers through this difficult, beautiful world.
The course is designed to take approximately one hour a week, for eight weeks. I recommend that you write by hand, but if you can't, then writing on a computer is fine. The suggested cost is $25, but you can pay whatever you like. If you decide to do the course, please let me know your results!
To go to the Daily Om Forgiveness Through Writing page, click here.
