I’m sure you have regrets in your life. I know I do. I’ve said and done things that I’m hard-pressed to forget, no matter how much I wish I could. I’ve hurt myself and others in this life. As a result of my poor behavior, it became easy to feel so guilty and have so much remorse, that I ended up punishing myself. I knew if I felt enough guilt and regret, it was possible I’d end up making myself sick, not pursuing opportunities, and isolating myself from the world. My inner judge, thought that maybe that would be a good punishment

If I feel I don’t deserve good things in my heart, then there’s no way I’ll invite them into my life.

I’ve thought about it often, and I still reflect on times of poor choices on my part. Then, I’ve thought about how long it took me to forgive myself and believe I was worthy of good things. Instead of beating myself up and making myself suffer, I learned to accept what happened in the past and forgive myself. Only then, can I discover the healing power of forgiveness and move on to continue to pursue a life where I’m contributing good things to society. I learned my energy is much better spent giving love to others than piling guilt, suffering, and regret on myself. If you think about it, it’s quite selfish to focus all your attention on yourself and punishing yourself for your past.

If you have to forgive yourself everyday, do it, and push all that energy into being and doing good as much as you can. That good will come back to you through good things happening in your life. You are still not perfect. You may get angry and lose track of yourself from time to time, but if you know where your home base is, then you can always come home and start again. Accept that you, too, deserve good things and open your heart to them because you can!