You've already explained it to yourself,
You know what happened,
You've processed it.
Maybe you've even been forgiven by the other person,
And it's still there.
That's not weakness,
That's what guilt does when it's been inside long enough.
It stops being about the event,
It starts being about you.
Let your body settle,
Feel the floor or the chair or the bed,
Whatever is supporting you right now.
You don't have to let go of anything yet,
You don't have to feel lighter,
Just arrive here with what you're carrying that's allowed.
Let your jaw soften a little,
Let your throat have a little more room,
Let your exhale go slowly,
Hope when a pono is not a quick fix,
It doesn't erase,
It doesn't rewrite,
It doesn't make it as if it didn't happen,
What it offers is something smaller and more honest,
A willingness to stop fighting it,
A gesture of inner peace directed at the part of you that is still at war with yourself.
Four phrases spoken inward,
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you,
I love you.
Not as performance,
Not as proof that you're healed,
Just as a small repeated act of willingness.
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you,
I love you.
If something tightens,
That's okay,
You don't need to push past it,
Just stay here.
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you.
You may need to return to this many times,
That's not failure,
That's what it looks like to tend to something real.
Chronic guilt doesn't dissolve in a session,
But something loosens each time you face it with a little less violence towards yourself.
You are not the worst version of what you did,
You are also who you are now.
Both can be true,
Gently.
I'm sorry,
Please forgive me,
Thank you,
I love you.
You don't have to be over this today,
You only have to be willing.
That willingness is already something.
