Your eighth mission, Agents, is to give yourself forgiveness.

Think of a situation in your life recently in which you felt hurt and connected your hurt feelings to something someone else had done. You may have even blamed this other person for your hurt feelings, saying something like, "You made me mad!" Sometimes, even just remembering what happened can make you feel hurt all over again. In fact, did that happen to you now?

Take time today to notice that the hurt feelings you experienced or are experiencing exist inside YOU. That's right, the feelings come from what you are thinking and remembering in the moments in which you have them, whether this is two months ago or even now. But here's the catch: you can learn to control your feelings, rather than having them control you. It just takes practice. To do this, first recognize what you are feeling, and maybe even give your feelings names like sadness or anger. It might help to talk to someone you trust about what you are feeling.

Next, try to identify if you are blaming someone else for what you are feeling. If so, remember that you can control your feelings because they are yours. And you are probably having them because something didn't happen the way you think it should. Maybe a friend said something mean about you. That's not what any of us want to have happen!

This is where forgiveness comes in. It's been shown that true forgiveness takes place when people let go of their hurt feelings and replace them with positive feelings. This doesn't mean forgetting what happened, no. It's about a decision you make to see the situation differently. Maybe your friend was having a hard day or wanted something you have. It's not that they really believe what they said about you. It was just the easiest way they knew to express their unhappiness.

A really common response to feeling hurt is to want another person to feel hurt. That's called trying to get revenge and when we do it, we just make situations worse. Learning to focus instead on how to be happy and live a good life is the best way to let go of hurt feelings and practice forgiveness.