Positivity: Forgive Yourself
The hardest person to forgive is yourself. There is tremendous positivity in forgiveness.
Whether you are not meeting what you think other people expect of you, or more likely you are not living up to your own expectations, you probably have experienced a need to forgive yourself, and that can be challenging.
It is important that we recognize we are only human, and forgive ourselves when we are less-than-perfect.
Thing is, everyone is perfectly themselves, and as such perfectly imperfect. Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye, or probably more likely the mind of the beholder.
We all tend to set ourselves up to fail from time to time. We have grand goals, plans big or small, intentions and activities plotted. However, as any strategist can tell you, no plan survives contact with the enemy.
You planned to attend your friend’s barbecue. You intended to wash the car. You were not going to eat that donut. You planned to do the laundry. Then something happened, and the plan did not come to fruition. Now you feel guilty for failing, and as such you are feeling bad.
Life happens. You missed the barbecue because you had to take care of a sick pet. You meant to wash the car, but took a nap instead. That donut had really tasty filling and was irresistible. Instead of doing the laundry you watched a movie. Were any of these things done to intentionally hurt anyone? Was there malicious intent? If, as is probable, the answer is no…then forgive yourself. You are allowed to do something else and change your plans.
Most of the time when we feel guilty about letting someone else down, we mostly have let ourselves down. We did not live up to our own expectations. Frequently the thing we think caused offense to someone else was not even a blip on their radar. So who needs to forgive you? You do.
Why should you forgive yourself? Because unless you have done something malicious or underhanded or inappropriate to someone else, then the person who needs to forgive you is in all probability you. Everyone understands that things happen, that plans fall apart, and life is ridiculously imperfect. Forgive yourself when you do not live up to your own self-expectations, because you deserve to be free of guilt and similar negativity.
Easier to forgive others than ourselves. But there is so very much positivity in forgiving ourselves. Life is simply more joyful when we recognize and work with this. I know it’s not always easy, but that doesn’t make it any less worthwhile.
Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that you are only human, and that life can throw you unexpected curveballs, you can choose to forgive yourself for not living up to your own expectations. When we forgive ourselves and recognize that we have no need of the guilt and other negative emotions we have without that forgiveness, ultimately we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.
This is the one hundred thirty-fourth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.
In relation to Positivity, check out my Five Easy Steps to Change the World for the Better.
