I forgive myself for thinking I was anything other than love.

I forgive myself for thinking I was anything other than love.

That mantra showed up this week in a podcast I was listening to.

I felt it deeply as I repeated it to myself.

I felt into times that I was so hard on myself, harder than I would ever be on anyone else.

I felt into times that I didn’t think I was enough.

I felt into times that I criticized myself for not knowing what I thought I should have known.

I felt into times that I thought I should have done or said things differently.

I realized that those times were easy for me to recall; they flooded in as I sat with my journal.

Why was I so critical of myself?

We go through life carrying around a heavy bag filled with our wounds, hurts, criticisms, and shoulds. We drag this bag around with us, looking for and finding more confirmation that we’re right about all the things we’re carrying, and we add it to our bag; it gets heavier and heavier. This leads us to feel frustrated, bitter, and unhappy.

How can we remember the Love we are? I say remember because we were born knowing who we are, and slowly we forgot.

First, we can separate ourselves from our actions. Meaning that we are not our actions. Doing something we regret doesn’t make us a bad person. Our actions change due to the degree of love we are feeling at any given moment. This does not mean we aren’t responsible for our actions. When we do things we regret, it is an opportunity to look at what we want to do differently in the future.

That helps us to stay out of judgement of ourselves and others.

Next, we can extend the same compassion, understanding, and empathy to ourselves that we so easily give to our favorite people.

Joy is our birthright; it is the highest expression of Love.

As we learn to give ourselves grace, forgive ourselves, and welcome assistance, both Divine and human, we can find more joy. We weren’t meant to do this alone.

We are Love.

When we change the world changes.