Receiving Forgiveness & Self-Compassion

Hello all, I accidentally sent this out when I meant to schedule it! I guess an invitation to practice what I write about below! Ignore it for now, I'll send it again in a few weeks :)

We are all broken and in need of forgiveness. It is so easy to hold judgment against ourselves and against others without even knowing it.

Steps 6 & 7 in the Twelve Step recovery journey involve letting go, surrender, and humility. Step 6 invites a posture of willingness to be transformed by God. It is opening our hands even just a little, saying, I need help. I can’t do this alone.

Step 7 invites us to ask God to remove our shortcomings. In order to do both steps, we need to receive and extend forgiveness.

In a poem called Phase One, Dilruba Ahmed describes many minute ways she has not lived how she would like to, “opening fridge doors, fantasies, wilted seedlings, unkempt plants, lost bags, feeling awkward, treating someone poorly.” Near the end, she begins to include the refrain, "I forgive you." She closes with:

For being unable to forgive yourself first so you
could then forgive others and
at last find a way to become
the love that you want in this world.

It’s the little things that sometimes pile up in us and deepen into resentment. When we say something we wish we hadn’t and hurt someone. When we record a podcast and there’s a ton of background noise (here’s the link :). When we mess up in any way, we might feel shame, embarrassment, anger, or frustration.

In these moments, may we welcome our emotions, receive God’s embrace, and extend forgiveness to ourselves. May we remember we are human, we have normal human needs and emotions.

In the below practice you are invited to create your own self-compassion mantra. It involves three simple phrases that you might bring to mind when self-judgment rages inside of you, or when you simply make a mistake.

Next week we’ll focus more on extending forgiveness to others.