Hi everyone, it's Rosie. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Monday. So back when I was going

to college, I had a falling out with a dear and close friend. We'll call her Jen. We were

on different paths and ultimately outgrew each other. But it was hard to let go because we had

been friends for a long time. Then, one day, we disagreed, we argued, and we parted ways.

Not long after my heart carried feelings of anger, resentment, and regret, a weight that got

heavier with time. I've been thinking a lot about how I was able to get through that period in my

life and what it took to heal. So today, and for the rest of this week, I thought it would be good

to talk about the process of forgiveness. I've found that it's the key to opening up a whole new

world of compassion and self-love. So back to the story. This argument happened around the time

that I had began my mindfulness studies, which taught me the importance of forgiveness. And the

incident with Jen, along with a few others, would consistently come up for me. And maybe that sounds

familiar. Has mindfulness ever made you notice certain patterns in your life? I occasionally would

hear her name in conversations with mutual friends, and all of those feelings would come up again.

I debated calling or writing a letter, but I would never allow myself to fully go there.

During this time, one of the key strategies I embraced was self-reflection. I dedicated

time to introspection and I dove into my own emotions and triggers. I journaled a lot. And

little by little, I gained clarity on how some of these past experiences impacted me,

and showed me what I needed to release in order to move on.

Fast forward to many years later, at a mutual friend's house, Jen and I had an unexpected reunion.

I wanted to be defensive, but a realization dawned on me. It was time to let go.

We had a long history together, and I had already been on my healing journey. It wasn't easy,

and it didn't happen overnight. I had to accept the hurt, acknowledge the pain, and finally

...