When we make a mistake in our life and are taking responsibility for that, it is time to forgive ourselves. Do you know that when we don’t forgive ourselves and feel like we “deserve” punishment, we actually continue to create the same blocks in that area of life as a way of subconsciously feeling we don’t deserve to move forward?

For example:

Say that you made financial mistakes and you regret getting yourself in debt, overspending when you couldn’t afford it or just not paying attention to your money. The result is you get yourself into financial trouble. You feel so guilty and bad for the choices you make and even though you have learned the lesson and are working towards changing, you still cannot let go of the bad feeling. You then witness more bad financial problems occurring for you over and over again. You see that the pattern has now been set. When we feel bad about a mistake and we feel we deserve ‘punishment’ we will keep recreating more bad situations to keep this feeling going. No matter what area of your life you have made mistakes, when you forgive yourself you will set yourself free.

Let us look at 5 Ways to Forgive Yourself:

1. What do you need to forgive? – Write out what areas of life you had made mistakes, what mistakes you made in these areas and why you feel that you have done something wrong. This allows you to understand things clearly. Before you can forgive yourself you need to understand why it is that forgiveness is required.
2. Take responsibility: – This is a very important step. Sometimes we do things because we feel we have to or need to and other times we do things because we don’t think clearly or in the right way. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! No matter what choices and actions we make, they are solely down to us and therefore, we need to let go excuses, blame or reasons and just take full responsibility for the actions and choices we have made.
3. Be gentle on yourself: – We are all human and there is not one person on this earth that hasn’t made mistakes or bad choices. Mistakes are actually good as they allow us to learn – whether that is through the hard way or easy way. We evolve, we change and we live better from the mistakes we have made. Mistakes do not mean you are a bad person or a failure.
4. Don’t hold yourself back & look to the future: – When we are too hard on ourselves and perpetuate the same behaviour because we cannot let go of our mistakes, we create a life of stagnancy, repetitive patterns and ultimately, frustration and disappointment. Holding yourself accountable and responsible for your mistakes is the best thing and then forgive yourself and let go. Do you want to create more of the same in your future or do you want to be the person you came here to be – unique, wonderful and beautiful?
5. Think outside of yourself: – We all have a purpose for being here, one that is unique and individual to you. We have a purpose to not only help ourselves but to help others. If you are consistently beating yourself up for past mistakes, being stagnant or frustrated you are in fact holding other people back from experiencing you as your BEST self. You can be a role model for change and help others forgive themselves and experience a truly beautiful life.

Much love to you on your self-forgiveness journey.
Caroline x