Forgive Yourself - Acceptance Of Mistakes

Let's get rid of negative feelings and emotions that are still entangled with an unpleasant memory of a mistake you made in the past. We'll replace those feeling with forgiveness and thankfulness - we'll make mistakes as long as we're alive, each and every single one of us. Let's be grateful for them as they give us the opportunity to grow. In Memoriam of Lesley Fightmaster.

Photo: Sarah Kilian

Transcript

Hello,

Thanks for being here and joining me.

My name is Verena and I will accompany you.

In the following minutes I would like to pass on something that I learned from my teacher Leslie Fightmaster who sadly passed away unexpectedly last November.

This meditation is dedicated to her.

In the following meditation we will let go of negative feelings such as guilt or shame which you may have lingered on from an experience in which you would have preferred to have behaved differently in hindsight.

Perhaps you made a mistake,

Said something you rather wouldn't have or reacted to slowly or just behaved in another way that you rather wouldn't have behaved.

Maybe you offended someone else or even for a brief moment you just acted differently than the person that you want to be.

To get started find a relaxed position sitting or lying down,

Whatever feels nice to you.

If you're sitting down make sure that your spine can straighten up and the rest of your muscles can relax.

If you decide to lie down just let go of everything.

Hands and feet lay loosely on the sides and if you want you can carry yourself with a blanket or maybe put a pillow or a rolled up blanket under your knees.

This can feel very comfortable.

Now arrive in the position you have chosen and correct it a little if needed.

Make it comfortable for yourself so you can feel completely at ease.

Breathe calmly through your nose into your belly and slowly out through your nose again.

Repeat a few calm breaths trying to relax a little more with each exhale.

You can just let go.

You are in calm.

You are in complete safety.

Now begin to recall the event from the past that has caused you bad feelings up to now in the present.

Imagine the situation and how you experienced it and relive it in your mind.

Are there other people involved besides you?

What is it that you actually feel when you think about this thing?

What feelings can you feel?

And which are the physical sensations caused by these feelings?

Where in your body can you feel them?

Experience and examine your feelings.

Keep on breathing calmly.

Make yourself aware that these feelings are there and you can feel them but you are not those feelings.

Like thoughts you have these feelings and they come and go but they never determine your entire being at any time.

So,

Keep breathing calmly through your nose and out through your nose.

You are completely safe.

You may feel shame,

Anger or guilt associated with this mistake.

Maybe you hurt someone else in this situation and now you feel sorry for that.

You may want to ask for forgiveness.

Picture this other person in your mind.

Make them present to you.

Now tell them in your mind or out loud I am sorry.

I am really sorry.

You can say more about this person when it feels good to you.

Keep on breathing calmly.

Now imagine your own face in front of your mind.

Also ask yourself for forgiveness.

And now say to yourself I am sorry.

You can also say more words to yourself if it feels right to you.

Keep breathing calmly through your nose.

Now imagine that with each exhale you can release your negative feelings a little bit more from this memory.

Maybe you want to give these feelings a colour.

Imagine how your breathing takes on this colour as it leaves your mind.

Imagine how your breathing takes on this colour as it leaves your body.

You just breathe out these negative feelings that don't longer serve you.

With every exhale you exhale your bad feelings.

Keep going like this.

Maybe you can try to make your breaths a bit longer as you breathe out than you do when you inhale.

Breathe a little longer in peace.

Forgive yourself.

Forgive yourself for the things that you did.

Feel how forgiveness grows in you with every breath.

How good it feels to be able to forgive.

You can give forgiveness a colour too.

Breathe in forgiveness and exhale guilt.

Breathe in forgiveness and exhale guilt.

Feel and exhale a little longer.

Feel what forgiveness feels like,

How it continues to expand inside of you,

How the colour reaches to your arms and legs.

Continue breathing out through your nose a little longer than you breathe in.

As long as we're alive we make mistakes.

Everyone,

Always and forever.

You make mistakes,

I make mistakes.

We commit them in our work and in our private life.

We make big mistakes,

Small mistakes,

Horrible mistakes and harmless ones.

This is human.

It is even more than human because this goes beyond humans.

Mistakes constantly happen in nature.

So they aren't only human but quite natural in the true sense of the word.

Continue breathing calmly.

Errors in genome replication cause evolution.

Without errors we wouldn't even exist and we could not live this wonderful life.

So some mistakes don't have such bad consequences.

We drop things,

Break things.

We disappoint or hurt other people or ourselves.

We treat ourselves or others unfairly.

We set wrong priorities.

All of this will happen to everyone,

Again and again.

Continue breathing calmly.

Some mistakes are reversible,

Others aren't.

But there is one thing we can do from all of them.

We can learn from them.

If you don't try anything new you may make fewer mistakes.

But if you dare to do something new and maybe make a mistake you can grow from it.

And get out wiser and without that mistake.

Feel what forgiveness feels like.

Breathe in calmly and exhale a little longer.

Forgiveness completely fills you now.

It reaches into your fingers until the tip of your toes.

And it goes even further beyond your body until it reaches everything around you and surrounds you completely.

Be grateful for all the mistakes you've made and will make.

The fact that you have decided on this meditation today shows that you can already accept and recognize your error as a mistake and nothing more.

Therefore you have already grown from it.

Mistakes are part of us like life and death.

Don't be too hard on yourself or on others if it happens again.

The next mistake will definitely come and that's perfectly fine.

Breathe a little more calmly.

When you're ready slowly move your fingers and toes.

If you want you can open your eyes,

Shake yourself out for a moment after getting up.

To shake off the last remnants of unnecessary negative feelings.

Smile for yourself and shake off anything you don't longer need.

When you are ready you can open your eyes.

Thank you for meditating with me.

Reviews

Helpful, thank you 🙏 Leslie was an amazing teacher! I love her YouTube channel.

I just discovered Veena here recently, and there’s something really rare about her. She had the most softly spoken incredibly soothing voice and tone that puts me almost immediately into a magnificently relaxing trance. I keep coming back to her meditations daily.

I am so thrilled to have found you, thank you so much 🙏💝🥰

This is a wonderful meditation. I feel so much lighter and free from all the negative feelings that I was carrying around with me all day.

Thank you so much. You are a wonderful teacher.

Thank you, I felt loved comforted and guided on a journey to forgive myself and face my feelings of guilt and shame.

Great!

A gentle and practical way to forgive yourself, while putting your mistakes into perspective. Thank you for this! 💕✨🌺

Gentle and helpful. Heartfelt thanks for sharing here.💙🙏🏻

Wonderful. Appreciate this so much! Feeling better! Ty!🙏💫⚡💫❤️

Dear Verena,
Thank you , this is very needed.
☮️🙏

Hoy honro mi propio camino y aprendizaje, gracias!

Deep gratitude. This is just what I needed in this moment. 🙏🏻💕🙏🏻