The Healing Power of Forgiveness with Jan Thompson

[00:00:09.290] - Sheila

Welcome to the Spiritual Geek Podcast, Wisdom for Modern Times, where we focus on living with intention to consciously create a life you love and celebrate. I'm your host, Sheila Franzen, and I'm so excited to share another episode with you. Today, Jan has joined me for a conversation about the healing power of forgiveness. Jan lives in Canada. As a person who is consciously on the ascension path, she loves to talk about her own ascension journey, energy healing sessions, and coaching, and aligning with her higher self in service to humanity. Jan's passionate about helping others to become self empowered, to realize the divine power within through personal healing sessions and to create harmony and balance in living and working environments through Ascension dowsing. Jan, thank you for being here.

[00:00:58.450] - Jan

Well, thank you, Sheila. I'm really honored and excited to be here today. Thank you.

[00:01:03.850] - Sheila

Yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to share as part of your introduction?

[00:01:09.490] - Jan

Well, I was listening to everything that you said, and I feel that that pretty much sums it up. I'm really honored and happy to be here. That pretty much talks about what it is I do day to day in my everyday life and how can I be in service to others. There are always, always, always opportunities that come up each and every moment. That's what my life is about these days.

[00:01:39.370] - Sheila

Yeah, it's amazing. We find ourselves in conversation, whether it's a family gathering, you're not with friends and those moments of how do we help create a moment of healing or understanding or new ideas. That's what we're here with forgiveness today. I just love that you brought up this topic of forgiveness. I've definitely been reminded when you proposed talking about forgiveness, I have found myself just pondering and recollecting all of the practices that I've had in my awareness that I've learned over the years that I've challenged myself with around forgiveness. I think it's just a beautiful topic. It's a very, I think, used word, but when we really talk about how it can shift our lives and our energy and heal, yeah, this should be a fun topic. Where would you like to start?

[00:02:41.180] - Jan

Well, you just brought up a lot of things in that last few statements that you made. I think one of the reasons that forgiveness came to me was, well, first of all, I spent a lot of time in the last few weeks visiting with family that I haven't seen for a very long time. Aunts and cousins and sister in laws and nieces and nephews and all of that thing. I was it was so interesting because I found myself a lot of times just being this objective observer about what was going on around me. I kept thinking, Oh, my gosh. If forgiveness could do something in this situation, or if only so and so could feel some forgiveness for this other person, or if only so and so could feel some forgiveness for themselves. It just seemed to be pervasive. Everything that I was observing and all of the relationships and the conversations and how people were feeling about themselves, it was so evident. I thought, Oh, my goodness. This is something that is really important. And you're right. I mean, you brought up the fact that we learn about techniques and we visit this and that and the other thing.

[00:04:06.480] - Jan

We practice it for a while and we feel some change and some shift in ourselves and others. Then something else comes along and we jump to that and we get involved with that. The forgiveness technique, the actual act of forgiveness keeps coming back. It recycles, it comes back over and over again. That's what I'm noticing.

[00:04:32.810] - Sheila

Speaking of techniques, let's talk about a few. What are your favorite techniques around finding forgiveness with others or forgiveness with self?

[00:04:44.130] - Jan

I think my most favorite technique is the Ho'oponopono, which is a technique that a lot of people have heard of. I was just speaking with someone yesterday and I was bringing up the idea of forgiveness once again. And they said, Oh, yes, I have the book. I said, That's great. Have you looked at the book? When did you last look at the book? And that thing. I revisit. I've got three different books on Ho'oponopono. For those people that are listening that maybe are not familiar with Ho'oponopono, it's a Hawaiian system of forgiveness that I think was developed, oh gosh, I don't know. I'm guessing 15 to 20 years ago, or maybe it was developed long before that, but it was probably 15 to 20 years or so ago that I first heard about it and read about it. And it was written about by Dr. Hugh Lenn. And there are very simple, four simple statements that a person can say to themselves. And i think this is the beauty of Ho'oponopono to me is that it transcends time. It transcends time and space. So if you are still, let's use an example, if you are still bothered by a relationship with a person that you have, and maybe that person is no longer around, you can still go through the forgiveness process with that person, and it's very freeing.

[00:06:29.200] - Jan

It's very freeing and releasing of a lot of energy that does not need to be expended on holding negative thoughts or grudges or resentments or remembrance of something that you said a long time ago that you wish you hadn't or something like that. So to me, these four statements that Dr. Q. Lin talked about, and they carry on to be used in different orders. Sometimes people switch the order around, and I don't really think it matters. I think it's the essence of these four statements. Usually, it will start out with, I'm sorry, that's statement number one. Statement number two is, Please forgive me. Statement number three is, Thank you. And statement number four is, I love you. And each of those statements is very powerful on their own. And I think the point is to really feel those statements in your heart and say them with definite intention and meaning, heartfelt meaning for those statements. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. So that technique of forgiveness, that Ho'oponopono mantra is probably one of my most favorites. Another technique that I've used before that can also have similar results, but I always seem to fall back on the Ho'oponopono.

[00:08:13.980] - Jan

Another one is writing something down on a piece of paper, maybe making a statement of what you're regretful of or sorry for and seeking forgiveness about that. And you can burn that piece of paper or crush it up and burn it and let it float away on the water. Let it float away. And as the paper is burning and the smoke is rising, you are seeing those old feelings or emotions or remembrance that you maybe had just drift away and they can be gone that way. And that is something a little more physical that people might relate to. Those are a couple that are my favorites. Do you have any favorites?

[00:09:08.720] - Sheila

I do. Well, I've read the books and even gone through some of the classes on the Hope and Hope...

[00:09:17.760] - Jan

Hope and.

[00:09:18.970] - Sheila

Hope and Hope and Hope. Yeah, prayer. I'm tongue twisted right now trying to say it, but I find that I use it... Because I've read the books and listened to the power of it and some of the stories, they're just incredible. If you want to hear some really neat stories about how the prayer has changed people's lives. I'm sure it comes from an ancient origin, right? Most of these things do in the Polynesian world, and the original prayer is actually much longer. But as you said, Mr. Lin came up with these four phrases that totally summarize it. What makes it so simple is it's so easy to remember. Even if you only remember three of them, like, I'm sorry, thank you, I love you. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I love you. I have found myself many a times where I've gotten frustrated and I need to just take a deep breath and the prayer pops in my mind and I just start repeating it in my head because as I'm breathing and I'm saying that, I'm shifting the energy. That's what we're really trying to do is shift our energy.

[00:10:30.330] - Jan

That's exactly right. We're transmuting, we're shifting, we're changing that energy up. Yes.

[00:10:40.520] - Sheila

And so that's where the healing power, that's where the healing comes from. And it's always our own beliefs and our own perspectives that wrap us up in the need to forgive. And it just brings us back to being able to be present. When you get really present and say, I'm sorry, please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. If you feel into those, like you were saying them, and when I say them and you drop into your body and feel what it's like to say that, your energy has to shift. There's no way around it.

[00:11:24.460] - Jan

Oh, it's so true. It is just so profound. I've had my own personal profound experiences, which I'm sure you have as well. And you're right. The key is to really drop into your heart and feel it. Have that feeling, that intention of really seeking forgiveness. I've done this on walks. I've spent an hour. Every pace I take, I'm saying it over and over and over to myself in my mind. I i'm just like you, it'll pop into my head and it will be, Okay, this is what I need to do to shift this energy, to shape this energy up a little bit. The other thing about it, and you touched on it without really saying it, is that it brings us back to our own power. So we are standing in our own power. We are doing something about the situation. We are taking responsibility for a situation, a relationship, something that has occurred because it always takes more than one person. There's always a give and take. There's always an exchange of energy that happens. In saying this prayer, we are stepping into our own power, taking that responsibility, drawing that energy back into ourselves, into our own hearts, and changing it, changing it up for the better.

[00:13:02.450] - Sheila

Yes, exactly. And when we're in our power, then we can find perspective again. We're able to find love and peace. You asked about techniques, and I'm an avid reader and I still continue even on my journey. I love to read, particularly people who have channeled the Ascended Masters. There's many amazing people today that have channeled so many beautiful messages. The Ascended Master that I think has spoken more on forgiveness through many different channels is Jesus or Yeshewa that you may read about him in different books and pathways. The course of miracles talks about forgiveness many times. Maury Perrown and the follow up to the course of miracles with the course of love talks about forgiveness, which is all part of Jesus's channelings. I've mentioned many times when I have written biographies or shared a story in the book Modern Ascension, that one of my favorite tools around forgiveness that really shifted how I viewed forgiveness was the way of mastery. And the series of books called The Way of Mastery, which the part one is the way of the heart and talks a whole lot about forgiveness. I actually found myself because I wanted to find the actual words and how it was described because it's been years since I read it, knowing that we were going to talk about forgiveness.

[00:14:49.190] - Sheila

I pulled up the book again. I often reread those books that have had the most meaning in our spiral of life. How does it sound different to me now than it did years ago when I read it. And this is the section, and it really talks about what we're talking about right now. And I just want to read these few paragraphs because I think it so summarizes how forgiveness heals, which is the subsection for this part on forgiveness. Understanding these things, let us look more closely at forgiveness. How does it work? What really occurs when you forgive? You are a conduit of energy to the degree that the conduit is in perfect working order, the energy can flow so radiantly that the conduit actually becomes transparent. That is, it no longer blocks. There's no barrier or limit to the light. When you judge, it is though you contracted and made the walls of the conduit smaller, just like building up rust in your pipes and the flow becomes less and less. As you forgive judgments, it is though the rust in the pipes is dissolving. It is though the walls of the pipe that are carrying the liquid of God's love begin to expand and become thinner and thinner and more transparent.

[00:16:11.300] - Sheila

Judgment is contraction. Forgiveness is relaxation, peace, trust, and faith. Forgiveness allows the spaciousness within your consciousness to grow. For when you look upon the thief that has broken into your home and say, I forgive you, you are decreeing the opposite of what you have learned. You are decreeing that nothing can be taken from you. That's what we're talking about with energy. This aspect of standing in your power and more energy flowing through you. The opposite of forgiveness is our judgments. We get stuck in our judgments of our mind. That's why the phrase that forgiveness, when you're forgiving others, the most important aspect of that is the forgiveness of self because it's our judgment that we're releasing. It's our judgment that we're dissolving and letting go of so that we can be in our power. That's the aspect of every action of forgiveness is also self forgiveness.

[00:17:25.870] - Jan

Absolutely. What you just read nailed it. You just nailed it and you just summarized it so beautifully there. I think just to add to the power of the phrases in the Ho'oponopono prayer is that the love when you say, I love you, that word love has such an incredibly high vibration and that helps release that stuckness that you were talking about and open that channel and create that flow. So when you were talking about the energy, the energetic conduit, I think as soon as you say, I love you and have that heartfelt intention about it, that the flow just is magnified and radiates out. Then that beautiful exchange of love is there to heal the situation or the person and yourself. As you said, it's all about self healing. You also talked about the fact that Jesus talks about this a lot. I have one statement here or phrase from Luke, and this is what Jesus said. He said, Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. You mentioned that part about judgment and having no judgment. I think going through any forgiveness practice helps you to become objective and so therefore non judgmental and non condemning and totally forgiving and compassionate and loving.

[00:19:26.480] - Jan

I think that's our ultimate goal as human beings is to be that loving being.

[00:19:36.410] - Sheila

Because when we allow love to flow through us, it's love or fear. It's the our love or fear operates in love or fear. And if we're in judgment, we're in fear. It's love that heals. And as you said, just the word love, if you just completely feel it when you say it, it's like there's an energy with that. Our words have power.

[00:20:03.950] - Jan

Our words have power. Our thoughts have power.

[00:20:07.410] - Sheila

Before.

[00:20:08.380] - Jan

The word comes the thought, and those thoughts have power as well. And I think it helps us to be more conscious, more reflective about what it is we're thinking and what it is we are about to say and are saying, and how that is going to affect a change upon whomever is the recipient of those thoughts and words and deeds.

[00:20:40.650] - Sheila

Yeah, there's a section in here, and I'm like, it just it stands out to me because it's just a few lines here on the physical. We think of our bodies as this physical structure, right? And we're talking about energy. Every philosophy talks about energy in some way, but that energy affects us physically. And so in this book, The Way of Mastery, the phrase around judgment and the physical impact, he says judgment causes the very cellular structure to break down. If you could see this, you would never judge again. When you judge, even the cells of your body go crazy. They vibrate in a completely dissonant way. There's contraction, fluid does not move through the cells. The nutrients do not become transported or delivered to the cells. The waste matters not processed properly. Everything gets clogged up and there is disease. Therefore, beloved friends, understand well that judgment is not something to take lightly. Should you then judge yourself if you have noticed you have been in judgment? No. Only love can heal. So yeah.

[00:22:01.640] - Jan

The word disease just popped right up as soon as you said that. You're only harming yourself in all of those ways of being and judging and condemning and blaming and holding grudges.

[00:22:17.490] - Sheila

It's the grudges. It's the.

[00:22:20.080] - Jan

Holding right there. Yeah, it's the holding grudges. It's not beneficial to anyone. That's for darn sure, and let alone yourself. That's where this drawing the power comes back. As long as you hold a grudge or a judgment, or pointing fingers and blaming, that energy is going out to that person or that situation. So you're really giving your power away. And is that what you want to do with your energy is keep it tied up in holding grudges and hating and blaming and judging and all the rest of it. Or do you want to pull your power back, release all of that negativity and create a healthy vital body not body. We're just talking about the physical body, Sheila, and that is exactly right. That's the first way to create disease within yourself. You're not so much harming the other person as you are harming yourself. So pull all that energy back and create that beautiful resonance within, that coherence within, and let those cells flourish and vibrate in resonance and in coherence with one another and create the ease within. You were mentioning the ascended masters, some of the ascended masters that you work with, and we spoke of Jesus, but another ascended master that I work with quite frequently is Saint germain.

[00:24:06.990] - Jan

One of the things that he has said through various channels is that the big lesson for us as human beings on earth today is self empowerment. So how can we bring our power back to ourselves? And I think this is a primary way we can do it. This is the very first and primary and one of the most powerful ways we can do it.

[00:24:32.400] - Sheila

Yeah, and opportunities to do that. I think the reason forgiveness, if you focused on no other practice other than forgiveness, it's unending because our families, of course, are first. We can go back to childhood and remember, Oh, yeah, that really made me mad. Well, okay, I forgive that. We have these physical bodies because they vibrate at a lower energy, hold stuff really good.

[00:25:04.470] - Jan

They know how to hold on, that's for sure.

[00:25:10.590] - Sheila

And our minds.

[00:25:12.730] - Jan

We helped them along. We help them to hold all that in.

[00:25:16.400] - Sheila

Our minds, it's probably another fun conversation in the future of just our minds hold on to things because they think it's protecting us because we don't want to feel a feeling or we got scared or there was trauma. And so if every day you just practiced forgiveness, whether you're starting with family and then with friends, you get frustrated in traffic. It's like, Oh, that's just a judgment. How can I forgive? You get frustrated with politics. How can I forgive? It exists everywhere. I always say every moment of resistance is an opportunity for healing and just being willing to embrace forgiveness. And whether it's if the hope and hope and hope prayer doesn't resonate with you saying Germain, you brought him up. He often speaks of the law of forgiveness and calling on the law of forgiveness. There's language out there of extending forgiveness. Every religion, every philosophy has prayers around forgiveness. There's not one right way to do it. It's whatever way brings you back into your heart to call in your power, which is where we started the conversation. There's essential oil blends from many young living in do terra and Glendon Green has the temple spiritual or a sacred touch forgiveness blend.

[00:27:00.500] - Sheila

And all of smell brings us back into our bodies. So why do essential oils help with that? Because they bring you back into your body, and then in your body, you can return to forgiveness and clarity and power.

[00:27:18.840] - Jan

Exactly. Oh, no, you're absolutely right. It is all about returning to ourselves. But it's not about being this independent being on the Earth as well. We're returning to ourselves to remind ourselves how we are connected to each other and how we do have this energetic... We're interconnected and how we have this energetic tie to others and other things and other beings and how much we can affect others and other situations by our own energy. So we can't forget that aspect. Yes, it's important to bring our power back to ourselves and to be in our bodies and become self empowered through love and forgiveness, but then remembering that we are interconnected and we have this energetic tie with everything and everyone around us.

[00:28:25.100] - Sheila

I love that you brought that up as we've been sitting here and I haven't had the... I wasn't sure where to introduce it, but the other technique that I don't remember where I learned this. So this is one I don't even know who to reference. So if I've missed somebody that speaks of this, but it's that concept of another way to forgive is to see the light in others. Because when we honor the light in another, then we are remembering the purity of who they are in the light in that connectedness that you just spoke of. I use that technique a lot of, Okay, I need to forgive somebody, so I need to, of course, call my own power back, but I need to remember they are light as well. Everybody seeing them in their light and their power is also an aspect of forgiveness.

[00:29:25.940] - Jan

Oh, absolutely. Seeing the light in others. I don't mean to be presumptuous, but it may be something to do with the Namaste or the Yogic traditions or whatever. That is when you say Namaste to another person, you are recognizing the light in me sees the light in you. That's exactly what you're talking about here is we are all beings of light, and we're not just the only light bulb here. We've got to remember how we are connected to each other. You're so right in bringing that up. I'm really glad you brought that up about seeing the light in others as well. Yes, the light in me sees the light in you and remembering that now. Thank you.

[00:30:22.360] - Sheila

As we close out this beautiful conversation on forgiveness, is there anything that you would like to either share in closure around forgiveness, but also how people, if they wanted to work with you? What services do you offer and what do you want to share about what you do in the world?

[00:30:46.780] - Jan

Well, I think first of all, I'll just maybe mention something that I do every day in practice. And if people want to start creating a daily practice or habit for themselves in terms of forgiveness, one of the things that I do when I sit in meditation every morning, and it could be whether you sit in prayer or meditation or silence, and just ask your inner self, your inner knowing, what is it that has come up for you today that you need to pay attention to, or that you need to... I used to say, What is it I need to clear today or focus on? But the messages that have been coming to me have been, You need to work on forgiveness with this person, or You need to work on forgiveness with this situation. Those are the messages that will come. I will just sit in my meditation and say, Okay, what's come up for me for today? And just sit and wait and see what pops into your mind, into your intuition. And then you could spend a few minutes going through a mantra or writing something down or just going into prayer. However it is, you choose to go through some forgiveness practice, and it doesn't need to take a long time because it's about bringing that awareness up, recognizing it, accepting it, taking responsibility for it, and then asking for the forgiveness around it.

[00:32:25.140] - Jan

Remembering the love, the love is part of that act of forgiveness as well. That's a daily practice that people could try to do on their own if they're interested in. A way to get in touch with me, if you're interested in working through energy sessions or through dowsing, whether it's home dowsing or property dowsing, for increasing and improving the energy within your living space. The way that you can get a hold of me is through Ascension arts. Ca. And you can learn about my different energy sessions there and some of the ways that you can work with me, that we can work together. One of the things that I have noticed lately is that in any of the energy sessions that I've been doing with people is the final thing that I always say to them is I talk to them about a forgiveness practice. So even if they've just had a healing session, because sometimes there's a lot of self blame. We didn't talk a lot about self blame today. We did bring it up from time to time. But the self blame and then that goes into feeling guilty about certain situations or certain ways you behave, things that you've said, and the guilt can just build and build and build and build.

[00:33:49.320] - Jan

And that is not healthy either. And so working on this forgiveness of any forgiveness practice with yourself can help free up those emotions and feelings of guilt. I do talk about that at the end of every energy healing or Reiki session that I do and that I've been doing in the past. Once again, it's ascentionarts. Ca. If you're specifically interested in having the energy shift in your home, in your home space, or workspace or living space, that's ascention dowsing. Ca. Either of those places, you'll be able to get a hold of me.

[00:34:35.660] - Sheila

Thank you, Jen. I love the reminder of a daily practice. I've returned to some of those things myself self of just... Because we get so busy with life, right? And sometimes we have to remind ourselves to do these simple, even just sometimes a couple of minutes, daily practices. They help us just remember who we are, call our power back in, and be more present.

[00:35:05.850] - Jan

It is. And it's part of.

[00:35:06.670] - Sheila

Our self care. Yeah, part of our self care, exactly. So thank you again for being here today. I think we've mentioned several other topics that I know we'll talk about in the future. Ascension DAO scene and DAO scene. I'm sure there will be people that are curious about that, so we'll have to come back and have fun with that. It's a pretty neat topic. We'll close this out now.

[00:35:31.660] - Jan

That's great. Thank you so much, Sheila. This has really been a wonderful conversation, and I really am honored to have been here and have this chat with you today. Thank you so much.

[00:35:44.420] - Sheila

You're very welcome. You've just listened to the Spiritual Geek podcast. Thank you for joining us. If you've enjoyed the episode, be sure to share a comment and rating on your favorite podcast platform. And if you were inspired, consider sharing with friends and family. Love and light to each of you. May your day be filled with joy and wisdom as you consciously create your life.