“Self-forgiveness is not always a simple task, especially in the case of acts that caused significant pain or distress to other people. Nevertheless, if you aren’t willing to release all of the resentment you feel toward yourself, how can you expect to be forgiven by whomever it is that you harmed? Moreover, without self-forgiveness, you simply cannot move forward in your spiritual growth, nor can you hope to succeed in your personal healing efforts. To assist you in this process of forgiving yourself, I highly recommend the use of the following prayer, which I came across a few years ago in a book called The Angels Within Us by John Randolph Price. It is one that has always been of great value to me in my own efforts to release myself from past mistakes:
“Spirit of the living God within, my precious holy Self, I totally and completely forgive myself for every thought, feeling, word, deed of the past. I release everything to you, all of my self-condemnation, all of my guilt, and all of my fear, and I close the door on all that was yesterday. As I forgive myself I know that I am forgiving all, for I am everyone, and everyone is me, and through the cleansing action of forgiveness we are all wonderfully free.”
By saying this prayer each day with sincerity, I assure you that it will become increasingly easy for you to accept and approve of yourself, regardless of your past errors. So give it a try, my friend; what have you got to lose but some negative energy that can only harm you as you move forward in your life?”
Jeff Maziarek, in “Spirituality Simplified”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.
