Surrender · “Let Go to Receive”
Forgiveness for Prosperity
To dissolve resentment that Ponder held to block prosperity, by systematically forgiving and releasing every person and condition through a repeated forgiveness affirmation, freeing attention and goodwill so supply can flow.
Forgiveness for prosperity in 5 lines: Resentment binds you “stronger than steel” and blocks your good. List everyone (and yourself) you hold a grievance against. Repeat a release affirmation — “I fully and freely forgive you; I loose you and let you go” — daily for a week or two until the charge eases. Bless and release; don’t relitigate. Then return to grateful expectancy. Release is inner freedom, never a duty to re-enter harm.
What it is
A core of Catherine Ponder’s prosperity teaching is that resentment blocks supply. In her words, when you are resentful you are “bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel,” and forgiveness “is the only way to dissolve that link and be free.” She treats forgiveness not chiefly as a moral duty but as a practical prosperity tool: a “forgiving state of mind is a magnetic power for attracting good,” and “until you practice forgiveness, your true prosperity will not come.” The practice is a deliberate, repeated inner release of every person and condition you hold a grievance against — including yourself — to clear the channels through which good can reach you.
The Method
Faithfully synthesised from The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity (and consistent with her later prosperity-through-forgiveness writing):
- List who and what you resent. Honestly name every person, group, institution, memory, and self-reproach that still stirs a charge. Ponder treats self-forgiveness as essential, not optional.
- Use a deliberate forgiveness affirmation, repeatedly. Work down the list with a present-tense release statement — a classic Ponder form is “I fully and freely forgive [name]. I loose you and let you go. I am free and you are free.” Repeat it until the inner charge eases.
- Forgive yourself in the same way. Apply the same release to your own past mistakes and failures: “I fully and freely forgive myself.” Self-condemnation, in her teaching, blocks supply as surely as resentment of others.
- Set a forgiveness period. Ponder often recommended sustaining the practice daily for a set stretch — commonly a week or two — returning each day to the names that still sting, rather than expecting a single sitting to clear everything.
- Bless and release, don’t relitigate. The posture is to loose and let go, sometimes adding a blessing of good to the person, not to rehearse the wrong or extract an apology. You are freeing yourself, not endorsing what happened.
- Then turn to expectancy. With the link dissolved, return to your prosperity decree, wheel, or plan and hold confident, grateful expectancy — the cleared channel is what the rest of her work flows through. (Sourcing note: the phrases “an emotional link stronger than steel,” “the only way to dissolve that link and be free,” and “I loose you and let you go” are attributed to Ponder; the numbered protocol is a faithful synthesis, not a reproduction of her text.)
Source & Lineage
Catherine Ponder (b. 1927), Unity minister, made forgiveness a pillar of prosperity in The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and devoted a later book, The Dynamic Laws of Healing and The Prospering Power of Love, to the theme.
The “loose and let go” language descends from Unity’s metaphysical reading of Scripture (the Fillmores). Her version sits in this library’s release family alongside Florence Scovel Shinn’s “loosing”, Hawkins’s letting go, and the forgiveness practices of Tipping and Renard.
Ponder’s distinct stamp is the explicit forgiveness-as-prosperity-law framing.
Common refinements
Confusing forgiveness with reconciliation. Inner release does not oblige you to trust, contact, or return to anyone. (See Safety.)
- Skipping self-forgiveness. Ponder treats releasing your own guilt as central; omitting it leaves the channel half-blocked.
- Forcing premature “forgiveness.” Bypassing real grief or anger to recite a formula is suppression, not release. Let the charge actually ease.
- One-and-done. Deep grievances usually need the repeated “forgiveness period,” not a single recitation.
- Treating it as a money lever. The honest gain is freedom and clarity; expecting cash as direct payout invites disappointment and self-blame.