It’s been called the “Blame Game”. It’s a favorite pass time of politicians everywhere. You know it is coming when a public official (or anyone else, for that matter) starts a faux apology with “I’m sorry if you…” The subtle shifting of the blame from to the recipient of the apology has been elevated to an art form in some political circles. In the real world, however, blame and forgiveness cannot walk hand in hand.

We’ve all heard the expression “I can forgive, but I won’t forget“. What that really translates to is “I’m forgiving you for now, but I reserve the right to un-forgive at some point in the future.” Forgiving without forgetting is not truly forgiving. You cannot sincerely and completely forgive someone if you continue to blame the person for the offense.

Do you know the difference between a feeling and an emotion? You may say that emotions are much deeper and stronger than feelings. From one viewpoint, that’s true. However, here’s a detail about feelings that you may not know about: you can observe your feelings but not your emotions. When you experience feelings you are the observer and in full control; when you experience emotions, you cannot remain the observer and you are not in control.

Emotion Seems to Have a Life of its Own
In most cases, you can only experience them and not control them. You are no longer in control – the emotions are! They act collectively as a kind of psychic clone of the more complete, more human you.