Baptise de Pape’s The Power of the Heart is a beautifully designed and in depth, yet an easy to read spiritual guide that can help you obtain your full potential and overcome life’s endless hurdles and obstacles. It offers sage wisdom from eighteen profound spiritual teachers, including Maya Angelou, Marianne Williamson, Michael Beckwith, Deepak Chopra, Eckhart Tolle, and Ruediger Schache. “Following Your Intuition”, “Everything That Happens is a Lesson”, “Living Fearlessly”, and “Three Blessings” is a sampling of topics that are included in this book.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. – Mahatma Gandhi

Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness. – Marianne Williamson

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. – Mark Twain

For those who have been wronged, betrayed, deeply hurt, or mistreated in the past, especially by a family member or friend, the root of bitterness can slowly begin to creep in, burrowing itself so deeply that it will negatively affect our everyday lives and those who are around us. It’s crippling, as it can take hostage of our emotional, physical, and spiritual state. It is also a breeding ground for other mental manifestations, such as deep-seated resentment, anger, hatred, and unforgiveness. It can even lead to violent behavior if we let our bitterness and anger get the best of us.

Once we’re enmeshed in bitterness, it becomes harder and harder to uproot it from our lives since our hearts begin to callous overtime. It may be a lengthy process, but learning how to forgive can unshackle us from the past. Forgiveness can also free us from the imprisonment of anger and fear we’ve self-imposed into our minds and deep within our hearts over the years. There’s no deeper liberation than freeing ourselves from some form of captivation, such as bitterness, in this case.

Sometimes, forgiving someone may seem to be the most unreasonable thing to do in some circumstances. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re approving of the person’s action or behavior, nor does it mean that we’re defending that person, pretending that we’re not hurt, or coming to an understanding. Forgiveness is a tough, yet rewarding decision we have to make in order to move forward with our lives. Cease to be a prisoner of the past. We may not be able to rewrite the past, but we can change the future by being a better person.

Chapter 15, “Forgiveness”, features several quotations, as well as stories from those who’ve had been wronged in the past, and how they finally moved past it.

Baptist de Pape is a lawyer turned author and filmmaker who traveled around the globe to interview some of the world’s greatest spiritual teachers in the film and book The Power of the Heart. For more information on the film and book, please visit http://www.thepoweroftheheart.com, Twitter, and Facebook.