Kindness and compassion are trainable skills of the mind, and when we dedicate ourselves to cultivating those qualities, the difficult relationships in our lives are radically transformed. Those relationships are reframed as profound opportunities to practice letting go and forgiveness. . Forgiveness does make one a victim.  Instead,  it is about releasing ourselves from hurt and anger and learning to transform our relationships through freeing our minds. In this episode, Gelong Thubten will talk about how to establish a regular meditation practice, how that helps us to develop greater compassion for ourselves and others, and how to learn to forgive.  . Additionally, we will learn how to apply three practical tips in forgiveness. Get ready to acknowledge the hurt,  develop gratitude, and deeply understand others.      Gelong Thubten is a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, and author from the UK. ‘Gelong’ is a title that means ‘senior monk’. Thubten was educated at Oxford University and then became an actor in London and New York. At the age of 21, tremendous amounts of stress led him to join a monastery. He was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1993 at Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery. He has trained under some of the world's most accomplished teachers of meditation and has spent six years in intensive meditation retreats, the longest of which was 4 years. Thubten is Director of Kagyu Samye Dzong Scarborough, Yorkshire. He is a Trustee of ROKPA International, an international humanitarian aid organization with medical, education, and cultural projects in some of the world's poorest regions. He is also a Director of Samye Foundation Wales, a mindfulness and wellbeing charity. Thubten collaborated with Ruby Wax and Ash Ranpura on the best-selling book “How to be Human”. His own book, “A Monk’s Guide to Happiness” was published in June 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton.     Listen out for: - Why is forgiveness important. - 2 main techniques for forgiveness. - The real definition of meditation. - 3 phases of breathing. - Guided meditation for compassion.   Bonus:                                                                          - Learn the EASIEST way to meditation with Emily Fletcher in this FREE Mindvalley Masterclass 👉 https://go.mindvalley.com/MWord                            - Subscribe to Mindvalley Membership to discover 30+ Mindvalley Quests, watch our podcast sessions live, interact with the guests, connect with the world’s best teachers and find your community 👉 https://go.mindvalley.com/NOW   Like this episode? Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcasting app. Share this with your friends on Instagram or Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices