Forgiveness of ignorance is bliss

0

Say you come up with a plan. It’s your plan. Your vision to fulfillment. Then, somebody comes along and you share this plan with them. “No.” They say, “That takes too long.” They swear to you another road that is quicker and better. This swear is a lot different than your promise.

With a swear, you have to put many other people ahead of your own needs. It’s the promise of many other people, or so it is what they swear. Many expectations and pressures are piled up on top of each other. We get caught up in this swear route for so long that we eventually lose sight of our plan; our promise. We lose ourselves.

I’ve sat down in front of a countless number of people and have them express to me their frustrations with their body, their fear for their health, or their struggle to stay motivated. It’s something that most feel lonely with, but many refuse to share openly about.

I used to hear this phrase “Ignorance is Bliss.” I can even envision you reading that and thinking ‘Oh yes it is!’ It cannot be true though. Not even a little bit. Anything that I have provided ignorance towards has only brought me back tenfold the problems that I had shoved aside. Rather, I like to believe that “Forgiveness of Ignorance is Bliss.”

While grocery shopping at Kroger I asked a lady how she was doing. Apparently, things were not going so well for her. She recently had a disagreement with her doctor about her health. I could tell through her demeanor that she brewed with frustration and felt mistreated; like she couldn’t do anything. While I offered her the advice ‘forgiveness of ignorance is bliss’, she simply uttered “Well you need to go talk to the doctor about that!”

On another instance, at Court House Fitness, a man boiled with frustration. The atmosphere of gym can bring out a heavy level of arrogance. There has been a great showing of members coming in for the early spring. I pointed out how great it is for the community to the man, and he immediately went into rebuttal. “Yeah, but it won’t last too long.” He said, “People don’t change. Too many egos.”

I think that these are two encounters of ignorance, but it never led to bliss. It simply compounded stress. Forgiveness requires that we notice our ignorance, and in that instance, give ourselves acknowledgment and choose to strengthen ourselves in a different way. A way that stops us from swearing ignorance and starts us promising forgiveness.

What do we have to do? How can it be done? We just have to let go. Let ourselves go. The identity aspect that doesn’t serve us. Then we get back to our truth. That original version of fulfillment that you formulated. Not the pre-packaged program. The real deal. For me, that had a lot to do with forgiveness. Just a lot of contemplative moments about whether I was truly being strong or coming from a weak place. When I let go of the slack, or ignorance, it loosened up my vision. I hope the same for you as well.

Trey Tompkins is a local resident who writes fitness columns for the Record-Herald.

http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2018/03/web1_FB_IMG_1479326666817-1-.jpg

By Trey Tompkins

Contributing Columnist

No posts to display