Healing Means Forgiving our Past Self

Healing is not an easy road. We also won’t miraculously wake up one day “healed!” Instead, we’re always in the process of healing.

If you are seeking healing, the first step involves forgiving your past self. We’ve all done things we wish we could change. Regretted how we spoke to someone we love. Wished we could change past decisions. However, we can’t change the past. We can only move forward with the knowledge we currently possess and choose to love and forgive any past versions of ourselves. Forgiving our mistakes and our failures and sending that part of ourselves love. Forgiveness is a crucial element of this process, especially when it comes to forgiving ourselves for past mistakes. Healing means letting go of the past and embracing the present with love and compassion.

Forgiving yourself is not always easy, but it is essential if you want to heal from past mistakes. It involves accepting the past and recognizing that you cannot change it. However, you can choose to learn from your mistakes and move forward with love and compassion. Forgiving yourself means that you no longer hold onto the pain and guilt of the past. Instead, you choose to focus on the present and nurture the current and future versions of yourself - continuing to try every day to be a better version of yourself than you were before.

Beginning to love yourself is a crucial part of the healing process. When you love and accept yourself, you are more likely to forgive yourself for past mistakes. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand, and they both require patience and understanding. Loving yourself means that you accept yourself for who you are, flaws, and all. It means you are kind and compassionate towards yourself, just as you would be towards a friend or a loved one.

Start now; start today. Start by telling yourself, “I love you, and I forgive you.” You may experience challenging emotions during this process. When I first started my healing journey, it was extremely difficult to imagine forgiving myself for past mistakes. Yet, once I extended that initial olive branch and said to myself, “I forgive you for not knowing better at the time, and I love and support you,” a door was opened. A door to self-compassion, love, and understanding that I’ve always wanted but was never able to access.

Healing involves letting go of the pain and guilt of the past, embracing the present version of yourself with love and compassion, and continuing to do so anytime you make a perceived mistake. Forgiving yourself is not always easy, but it is essential if you want to move forward and live a fulfilling life. It requires patience, understanding, and a willingness to learn from past mistakes and continually forgive ourselves. It’s not only forgiving the version of ourselves from 20 years ago; it’s forgiving the version of ourselves 5 minutes ago who made a mistake. This journey toward healing will always be ongoing, but it is an essential and necessary journey to trek. Forgiving yourself brings about an inner peace you may not yet imagine - and it’s always ongoing.

Choose self-love over self-criticisms. We are all human. Trying our best every day. Choose to focus on that and move forward with compassion and understanding - and hopefully, in doing so, we give others permission to love and forgive themselves as well.