How important it is to learn to forgive — and even more so, to let go mentally. Don’t keep someone who may have long since disappeared from your life trapped in your thoughts; instead, gently open that trap and set them free. After all, by forgiving and, most importantly, letting go in your mind, you are first and foremost freeing yourself from a completely unnecessary burden of anxious, empty thoughts. Just imagine: some people replay these destructive mental loops for years, voluntarily sacrificing their precious energy on the altar of someone else’s oblivion.

We are all living, feeling human beings, and I am no exception. That is why I am always — and especially now — learning to accept the world together with you. So let’s explore the topic of forgiveness and walk through its practical steps side by side.

To begin, choose one specific long-standing resentment — a memory that still stirs up emotion. Without plunging too deeply into the emotional component, try to examine it soberly, from a certain distance, yet with care. Who are you hurt by, and why? Briefly describe what you remember about the incident.

Next, analyse how this resentment — whether long-standing or relatively recent — manifests itself in your life today. It may appear as instant tension at the mere mention of that person, as painful thoughts that periodically surface, or, conversely, as a deliberate avoidance of conversations on related topics. After all, both constant rumination on an unpleasant past and active avoidance of it drain our valuable energy equally.

Another important nuance can be described as “separating the wheat from the chaff.” In this context, your task is to extract the bare fact of what happened (the wheat) and to recognise what you have mentally piled around it over time (the chaff). Consider how far your interpretation of the event may have drifted from reality. How much unnecessary chaff have you accumulated — for example, lingering regrets or self-accusations that emerged long after the fact?

The key point is this: you are not forgiving the offender to make them feel better, nor are you justifying their actions. You are making this decision to put an end to your own self-inflicted suffering — to cut off obsessive, painful thoughts at their root. Ultimately, forgiving past grievances and those who caused them can be seen as an act of kind self-care, a form of wise and compassionate selfishness.

In any situation, even the most unpleasant ones, we can learn important lessons and gain inner strength by fully living through the experience. More importantly, we gain experience — because a thoughtful person, after analysing even the most painful events, not only draws conclusions but also consciously extracts valuable insight, to which life wisdom is gradually added over time.

To conclude today’s reflection, let’s take a step together — even a small one — toward releasing this resentment. For example, write a letter to the person from your past. There is no need to send it; simply write it down, pouring all your grievances onto the page. If you wish, you can even burn it afterward — this can be a surprisingly effective ritual for letting go of an attachment to the past. And once we release even one of these emotional burdens, it becomes much easier to shift our focus from the past to the present — and then, naturally, toward the future. This, in itself, can be called a true strategic investment: an investment in yourself and in the life you wish to create.