Forgiving ourselves tends to be a bit more challenging than forgiving others. This is because we have mastered the skill of replaying the same guilt-triggering thoughts in our heads countless times, making us feel as if we are reliving certain situations over and over again. Guilt and shame are unnecessary emotions. Ruminating on them is like inflicting self-harm because no matter how much we think about the past, we cannot go back and change it.

Our life is what is happening right now.

We do not have the ability of time traveling and changing situations, but we do have the gift of becoming better people today. If in our hearts we are truly sorry for our actions and fully comprehend that we must leave our old ways behind, we can start anew right this moment.

We’re all carrying our own baggage, and although some of us have accumulated a heavier load than others, we all have the opportunity to make better decisions and start fresh. When we become aware of our detrimental ways, we must strive for change. Self-forgiveness is meaningless if we stay the same.

Let’s look at a few ways in which we can start practicing self-forgiveness in our lives and become free of the burdens of the past.

 

1.  Redeem yourself by becoming a better person

The best way to rid ourselves of a negative past is by creating a positive present. We are not bound to our mistakes from yesterday. We are given a new opportunity every single moment to act better. Redemption happens when we start letting go of our old destructive habits and replace them with new, altruistic ones. Becoming a morally correct person can assure us that we won’t commit the same mistakes again, and doing the right thing is always rewarded by the Universe.

As we become better at our core, we dissociate from the person we once were. As we act and think better, we evolve and understand that our past-self acted according to the consciousness we had. And that is okay because we truly didn’t have the understanding to act in a different manner.

 

2.  Give yourself love

If we are holding resentment towards ourselves, our lens of the world becomes polluted with this energy. Filters of anger, resentment, and guilt can give us a dangerous perception. We must counteract any negative emotions we are holding towards ourselves with positive ones. We must practice self-love. Self-love is an act of reverence towards our being (we have a blog dedicated to this right here). It is treating ourselves with dignity, patience, and respect.

How many times have you forgiven others for wronging you? Don’t you think you deserve an opportunity at redemption too? You are worthy of your forgiveness because you are worthy of your love.

 

3.  Learn from your mistakes

One of the best ways of coping with our past mistakes is to try and learn from them. If we don’t meditate on the reason why we are feeling negatively towards the situation that’s causing us to resent ourselves, we are just going to recycle the same reaction in different scenarios.

Life is a school of learning, and taking advantage of our good times and the bad is essential to our growth. If we see our mistakes as lessons for our present self, we can even become grateful for their occurrence. This understanding can only come through retrospection and meditation, but we can avoid returning to old patterns if we consciously observe our faults.

 

4.  Focus on staying in the present

Unless we are trying to learn from a situation, ruminating on the past is a toxic habit. We have to stay in the present moment and immerse ourselves in the life we are being given.

An abandoned mind is like an untamed animal, and it will constantly try to take us anywhere but in the “now”. This is why practicing meditation and harnessing some level of concentration is important if we wish to become more grounded in the present.

We also recommend practicing a grounding exercise if you feel like your mind is out of control and taking you on a guilt trip. Whenever you’re overwhelmed, try using your senses to come back to the moment. What do you see? Hear? Smell? Touch? Thinking about the environment you’re in will take you away from the negative thoughts and bring you back to reality.

Work on yourself constantly, you don’t want to be a slave to your mind!

 

5.  Forgiveness Exercise

We are strong believers in journaling, so we thought we’d make the 5th point a self-forgiveness journaling exercise to help you on your journey towards healing.

If you do this exercise with an open heart and a sincere intention, it will help you greatly. We will leave the link down below:

Self-Forgiveness Letter

 

Self-forgiveness is a process that needs time, patience, and love. We are on this journey of purification together because we are all sinners in different ways. Even if our past is dark, true redemption happens for those who are willing to change for the better. Don’t forget that you are worthy of a second chance. Your past actions do not define you. It is what you do today and at this very moment that matters most.