Lately, I’ve been focused on the topic of forgiveness as it’s a challenging process - especially when it involves forgiving yourself.
Hiding from the truth
Face it, we all fuck up.
We:
Stay in relationships longer than we should
Allow others to take our power or take advantage of us
Don’t speak up when we know we should
Constantly feel we aren’t where we’re supposed to be in life
Break social rules
And when we do any of these things, we judge ourselves harshly, holding ourselves hostage to feelings of guilt. We’re so mad with ourselves we do anything we can to distract us from feeling like crap - we hide behind work, shopping, eating or addictions.
The power of owning up to it
Here’s the deal: all humans make mistakes. When we do, we often fall into the trap of beating ourselves up over and over for the same mistake. All this does is allow us to relive the pain, fear, and judgement of the past. This causes us an immense amount of stress and fatigue … and zero personal growth.
Beating yourself up over your mistakes will never help move you into the energy of joy and peace. Realize that no matter how bad your mistakes are, they allow you to grow. The power lies in reflecting on where you went wrong and committing to doing it differently next time.
What to do when you’re in a boxing match with your mean self
The next time you find yourself going a few rounds with your inner self, step back and bring your awareness to your mean self-chatter. Listen to it like you would listen to a child who just made a mistake. Then tell your mean self that you accept the mistake and you’re ready to move forward and make better choices.
By having this awareness and acknowledging your willingness to move forward, you will able to get ever closer to forgiving yourself.
Enjoy all the benefits forgiving yourself brings
As I’ve said a few times, the first benefit of forgiving yourself is self-growth – you ain’t gonna make that same mistake again! But the added advantage is you’ll start to develop compassion for yourself and in the process, forgive and have compassion for those that have hurt you.
Another amazing benefit is the joy that comes with accepting and loving yourself again. As you become more joyful, you will attract positive people and situations into your life. And we all love that law of attraction, don’t we?!
So take the courageous step today and start the process of forgiving yourself. You are WORTH it!