Forgiving A Murderer
By Barbara Garcia
Forgiving someone who has done a terrible wrong to you is probably the hardest thing to do. Yet it is necessary to release yourself of prolonged resentment because it not only drains you of life giving energy, it punishes you in a well of negativity inside your body and mind. Years ago I became involved in a homicide investigation involving a young man who was brutally beaten to death. There were no witnesses and no clues. The surviving family members became so psychologically disheartened, their lives was thrown completely upside down as time went on and on without any answers. They came to me as a broken family. I could feel their desperation and sorrow as they looked to me, an investigative psychic analyst as a last resort.
Following the leads of psychic impressions and good old fashioned foot work of my partner, a private investigator, the case began to unfold with a series of clues and circumstantial evidence that led to the person responsible. It turned out that the young man had a hidden gambling addiction and owed quite a bit of money to someone. Apparently the young man asked for more gambling money instead of paying what he owed, consequently a fight broke out leaving the young man unconscious. Leaving him there unattended and without a call for help, the young man died of his wounds.
The investigation and trial took a total of three years. The man responsible was sentenced to 25 years to life. The surviving family continued with severe depression, despair, and unwarranted guilt for another 4 or 5 years after the trial. They started therapy and joined support groups.
Recently I ran into one of the family members at a local coffee shop. I was so happy to hear that life had turned around for them as they began their healing through the process of forgiveness. "We were so full of bitterness and hate that it was killing us from the inside, we had lost everything, there was nothing left but our sanity, our lives." I asked what had changed and the answer was simply to let go, forgive, release the chains of bondage to the tragedy and to the killer. The conversation left me feeling uplifted with hope and faith in our human nature of forgiving and less vengeful.
The capacity to forgive someone who murdered a loved one is an infinite divine consciousness to me yet it is within all of us. Forgiveness is letting go of the horrible pain you are feeling inside your heart, your stomach. It is relaxing your tight, rigid muscle tissues. It is releasing yourself and the deceased into the light of love. This emerging awareness is based on the perception of forgiveness in layers and levels; comes a better understanding of how to engage it every day. Forgiveness presents us with the highest perception of freedom within ourselves and a better outlook on the world we live in.
