Self-Forgiveness: Granting Yourself the Same Compassion You Offer to Others

With this episode coming out on January 1, 2025, I’m thinking about the idea of new beginnings. Today’s topic offers an opportunity to step into something that holds great potential for living healthier and happier lives.

Religion / psychology / science all speak of the importance of forgiveness for personal and relational health. We speak quite a lot about its importance in grief recovery. Forgiveness is a releasing of all anger and bitterness aimed at an offending person. The primary beneficiary is the person doing the forgiving. Emotional heaviness is lifted. New energy for life and living comes through this liberating action. It doesn’t change what happened, but it does release us from the load of negative emotional energy we’ve been carrying.

But what if it’s ourselves that we feel a need to forgive? Is that even possible? 
I’ve had this question come to me on various occasions. Some people have quite a struggle with this. They feel like they’re carrying a burden of things they regret from their past but have no idea how to relieve it. If that’s how you feel, then this episode is for you.

Dr Everett Worthington's Six Steps to Self Forgiveness
The Heart of Grief website
The Grief Recovery Institute