How a small decision to Forgive yourself can turn your life around
Self-forgiveness is not rehashing our past mistakes and dragging ourselves to a dark place, when we know that we can only learn from the past; we can’t change it. Self-forgiveness is one of the greatest keys to self-love. Acknowledging that self- forgiveness is the restoration of our essential goodness and therefore it is our fundamental responsibility. When we become willing to let go of the expectation that others are responsible to forgive us, or that our self-forgiveness is dependent upon being forgiven by another. The reason most of us feel guilt or ashamed about actions done in the past, is because those actions are not in line with our current morals and values. Our past wrongs can actually be a clue to what we hold important. By identifying our morals and values, we start to get a clearer picture as to “why” we're hurting over what we've done, or what others did to us. The best thing you can do for yourself in order to forgive is to start replacing the negative behavior and thoughts with more appropriate ones that are in line and in harmony with your morals and values. By doing this, you reaffirm to yourself that you can handle situations in the way you want to. This can lead to a sense of pride, which is a huge part of building self-esteem. There for those experiences allows you to move on and truly forgive yourself.may be some regrets that don’t seem to improve, and they’re going to require some extra work. I call it “clearing your conscience.” This means it might take bringing this regret into the room and apologizing for your past mistake. At some point, you have to accept that the past has happened and you’ve done everything in your power to amend past mistakes. It’s now time to turn the page and accept those events as part of your story. They have all contributed to making you who you are. Being grateful
When we learned how to ride a bike, most of us realized it would probably take a few tries before we achieved perfection. A new behavior and thinking patterns are no different. They are both skills. Cut yourself some slack while you are on a new learning journey. Become aware that you are going to make mistakes. We all do. Making peace with ourselves is not a self-absorbed activity. You could begin this process by recording a forgiveness statement, or writing a forgiveness letter to yourself.
What are the new processes that you are going to use to forgive yourself?