Saturday night, when I kissed all you Pinkies goodnight on Owning Pink for the night, everything seemed as it should. But Sunday morning, when I logged onto my website, a black, evil-looking web page emerged with the words Make Love, Not War and the grim words of my hacker, who posted his name and seemed proud to disrupt my lovely, empowering site to replace it with goth music and dark imagery.

Owning Pink Got Hacked

Upon realizing that Owning Pink had been hacked, an poisonous feeling seeped through my veins like a serpant, spreading feelings of violation and powerlessness. Once I recovered from the feeling of victimization, I noticed vile, hateful thoughts racing through my mind. Thoughts like, “My hacker must be some hissing little pimply-faced geek with no life. Why would someone want to shut down Owning Pink to broadcast their message, when we’re already making love, not war? What kind of loser targets kind-hearted individuals trying to do good in the world to promote their own selfish agenda?” I could feel the daggers working their way through my skin, but the more I succumbed to my own self-righteous, vindictive thoughts, the worse I felt. So what did I do? I decided to forgive my hacker and write a love letter instead. Here it is:

A Love Letter To My Hacker

Dear Mr. Hacker,
When I first realized what happened to Owning Pink, I felt hurt and violated. But then I remembered that my reaction came out of my own fear. Because you hacked into something I considered sacred and transformed it into something that didn’t represent Owning Pink’s mission, I felt scared, afraid that you might destroy all I’ve worked to create. This brought up a lot of stuff for me.

The first thing I realized is that Owning Pink is not mine to own- or to lose. Owning Pink is bigger than me, and no one can take it away, because it lives in our hearts, not on the internet. You might hack into our website, but we Pinkies are still united, like a Pink underground network of love and acceptance.



Next, I realized that my thoughts about you reflected fear, not love. Now I’ve turned my thoughts around and started loving you. After all, if doing something like this seems like a good idea to you, chances are you feel unloved. You probably feel as if you have no real power in this world, as if nobody really cares, but you’re wrong. You are loved. And you don’t need to destroy someone’s life’s work in order to own your power and receive that love. It’s within you already. All you need to do is ask God to guide you and claim what is already yours.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like what you did, so please don’t do it again, but my heart goes out to you nonetheless. You may feel all alone in your computer cubby filled with symbols and numbers and code, but you are not alone. We Pinkies are here for you, and all you must do to be loved is to receive what we offer freely. I am not angry about what you’ve done. To dwell in anger or resentment only diminishes both of us. Instead, my heart expands to encompass you and your authentic self, and I pray that you will do the same.

Blessings to you,
Lissa

Can You Forgive Those Who Hurt You?

What about you Pinkies? Do you carry vile thoughts, hateful feelings, and unloving actions against others in your heart? Don’t you understand that it’s not about being right? As my mother always told me, "The relationship is more important than being right." Sometimes, evil actions mean you must sever the relationship. That doesn't mean you can't forgive nonetheless. Chances are, if you've been wronged, you have every reason to feel the way you do. Being wronged hurts like the dickens. But don’t those unloving thoughts hurt even more? Don’t you realize you are never free and will never experience inner peace until you forgive and replace hate and fear with love?

Today’s Mojo Monday Exercise:
1. Start by forgiving yourself. Until you love YOU, it's very hard to love others. Offer a blessing of forgiveness on your own soul and MEAN IT! Love yourself. Forgive yourself. You are made in God's image and are deserving of love.
2. Write a love letter to yourself.
3. Make a list of all the people you harbor negative feelings towards.
4. Write a love letter to each one of them. You do not need to send these letters or even make contact with the person you are forgiving. Forgiveness can be done from within.
5. Offer up a prayer on behalf of yourself and the person you forgive. Pray that your your heart may open wide enough to offer love and acceptance. Pray also that the person you forgive experiences inner peace.
6. Light a candle on behalf of yourself and each person you have forgiven, as a gesture of the light that radiates from you when your heart is filled with love. Light these candles every day until you feel a shift. When hate and fear firmly exit your heart, leaving only light and love in its place, your candles will have worked their magic.

With love for my hacker and all of you,
Lissa