Do you ever sit around filled with regret for mistakes you’ve made in the past? Here’s why that’s a punishment you don’t deserve.
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Every “mistake” you made was to cope with a problem or an unmet need that you had no skills yet to creatively cope with or get support with. And guess what—each mistake you made was a thread in your growth that created the dynamic person you are now, with intricate patterns of nuance, wisdom and humility.
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We’re not born with skills. We learn them through our experiences. And for many of us, our first experiences were not growth-based, but shame-based. And you did your best to escape these confines and constraints that you were given as best as you knew how to, no matter if anyone saw them as constraints or confines but you.
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And now you’re learning skills to cope creatively. You’re owning your wisdom, you’re granting yourself grace and understanding. And you’re sharing these skills so that others can begin to heal sooner than you did.
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And if you want some spiritual justice? Look at other people making mistakes with the unhealed parts of themselves and instead of shaming them or taking their behavior personally, extend some compassion their way. Even if it’s just a faint whisper from your heart to theirs.
-JLK
