Welcome to Winter 2017.
In keeping with the hint in our last blog, we now offer a blueprint on how to forgive ourselves. Here is the simplest way we know….
Think about how you might feel in any one or all of the following scenarios:
(1) Your pet puppy or kitten just had an accident on your brand-new carpet.
(2) A baby accidentally knocks down a vase or deletes a doc or picture.
(3) Your best friend or a dear family member is feeling sad, perhaps despondent, perhaps dejected, hopeless or just worried.
Now imagine looking into their eyes or upon their face. Imagine how you’d feel.
Would you ridicule, punish or belittle them? Would you be understanding and forgiving? If the latter, you are much like the rest of your human brethren. We’d like to think we would understand and be forgiving because we know that the intent behind all of these happenstances were likely not malicious. By that measure then, extending understanding and compassion to ourselves should be equally easy.
However, oftentimes that is not the case. Instead, a whole lot of us are our own harshest critics allowing ourselves little room to make mistakes for free. Just being aware of this double standard (let’s call it what it is shall we?) can go a long way in equal treatment for ourselves at our own hands. At the very least let us level the playing field and extend to ourselves, the compassion we so easily extend to others.
So the next time you find your foot back in your mouth or you feel down and out for some reason, before cracking open a can of regret, remorse or the worst perpetration of them all – guilt (yuck!), think of what you would do for your puppy, friend or infant.
Now do that for yourself. Remember in the bigger picture, you are no different.
Are you ready to shift to that “Big Picture” mindset in 2018?
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