Pre-forgiveness

I was driving in Portland the other day, and the traffic was crazy. Specifically, I was trying to turn left at a light that was way too short, and there were at least 100 cars in front of me. I almost missed the lineup, as I was driving up because the turn was so far away from where the line of cars started. The light was short and only a few cars got to turn with each cycle. In total, the turn took about 15 minutes. I noticed the tightness in my chest. Anxiety, frustration, impatience. They sort of mixed and melded together into this sticky muck in my upper belly.
Then after about 10 minutes, I noticed the cars cutting into line. A number of cars, maybe 10, had driven up in the middle lane, which was supposed to go straight, and were all-the-way at the front of the line, blinkers on, trying to squeeze in at the last minute to turn left. This set my chest on fire, and I caught it pretty quickly. I was angry. Pissed. 

Sitting with that feeling for a few minutes. I chose to remember how I had almost missed the line to turn. And I chose to imagine that they too, inadvertently missed the turn. And even if they hadn’t, forgive them anyway. The next few minutes turned into a meditation. Allowing the frustration, reframing the situation, and forgiving - those drivers, and even myself for initially assuming that they were inconsiderate and terrible people. 

Forgive is an old English word- “for” meaning completely, and “give” to grant or allow. 

To completely allow. I like that. 

What would happen if today, you forgave everything? How much tension do we hold by incompletely giving, incompletely allowing our experience? Internal or external? We rarely lead with forgiveness. It’s generally an afterthought.
So what would it be like if just for today, you led with forgiveness. 

Better yet, what would it be like to offer yourself and everyone grace. A sort of preemptive forgiveness? Pre-forgiveness? As if everyone were already forgiven and you had already forgiven yourself?