Forgiveness
"The greatest evil that can befall man is that he should come to think ill of himself."
~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832)
Forgiveness is a pretty tricky thing. Whether ourselves or someone else deserves it or not is really beside the point. Most of us barely know what we're doing. If we really know at all.
So, I think that when it comes to guilt and forgiveness, instead of being crippled by the former, and overwhelmed by the notion of the later, we should own both. We're disasters and we mess up and we learn. And to avoid it being an even bigger disaster, we MOVE ON.
It's the humility that's important. It's okay to be humble. It's a strength, really. True humility is vastly under-rated. It's being secure enough to be insecure. To say, "I totally fucked up and I'm sorry... I don't know what I was thinking..." Or allowing the other person to be sorry, even if they aren't. Because somewhere deep down, they loathe themselves that they can't be strong enough to be regretful and demonstrate that, and that's true punishment - sometimes too much so. And harboring guilt and resentment is an immense burden. It clenches the heart and anchors the spirit. And it gives an unfortunate situation much more merit than it deserves. And it removes us from place and time, it isolates us and takes us away from this very moment.
And this is all we really have.
So, be kind to yourself. And be kind to others.
Okay, I'm done. I'm shutting my pie-hole.
***************************