FORGIVE YOURSELF ALWAYS

In order to truly love ourselves, our bodies, and our lives, we must forgive ourselves, always.

If you don’t follow any other rule, please follow this one. This is the key to letting go of perfection in order to avoid “failure”– perceived or otherwise.

I spent so many years feeling like a failure, at war with my body, and wishing everything about my life could be different because I thought I had to be perfect in order to successfully live a happy, healthy lifestyle.

Boy was I wrong!

Once I learned to forgive myself, I began to love myself, my body, and my life!

I stopped beating myself up. I ended the cycle of diet-fail-repeat. I found peace and joy and love in all of the amazing things life has to offer.

I started LIVING!

Forgive yourself to love yourself

When we forgive ourselves, we stop living in the past. We realize that failure is based on perception, and we no longer have to perceive our “mistakes” as failure. We recognize that every “mistake” is an opportunity to grow– no matter how many times we make it.

When we forgive ourselves, we are able to accept ourselves the way we are which allows us to create change from a place of love. Good things come from love.

When we choose love, we can approach ourselves, our bodies, and our lives with a happy, healthy mindset, and start making progress that sticks.

Forgive yourself to love your body

Your body is yours and only yours. You are the only one responsible for it. And it relies on you to take care of it. It’s not its job to look like a Victoria’s Secret model. Its job is to keep you alive so you can live the life you want to live.

Forgive yourself for not appreciating what your body does for you every day.

Forgive yourself for how you’ve talked about, thought about, and treated your body.

Forgive yourself for depriving it of food, or burning it out in the gym.

Forgive yourself for any damage you may have done by giving it too much food.

Forgive yourself for not moving as much as it needs.

Use this forgiveness to provide your body the love, care, and attention it deserves…and requires. Remember, it’s your ONLY body. You don’t get a second one. Love it. Care for it. Use it. Honor it.

Forgive yourself now and move on

Don’t beat yourself up and don’t waste time starting over tomorrow, on Sunday, on Monday, or you know, whenever the next “right” start-date comes around. Doing so will only prolong the process and delay achieving your goals.

The more we allow this to happen the more likely we are to end up feeling as though we failed, full of guilt, remorse, and shame, feeling helpless and hopeless, like we are broken and incapable of ever being truly happy and healthy.  If you have ever felt this way, you are not alone. I lived there for a long, long time, and I know…it sucks.

By making forgiveness the first thing you do when you don’t meet your expectations, you bypass the feelings of guilt and shame, and begin the mindset shift necessary to create true, lifelong health and happiness.

And when you work to improve the quality of your life from a place of love, you learn to appreciate yourself, your body, and your life, for things you never even imagined.

So next time you don’t meet your expectations, or you find yourself thinking negative thoughts about yourself, your body, or your life, which will happen, because you’re only human, practice rule number one!

Forgive yourself instantly, say something nice about yourself, your body, your life, with gratitude, and then move on.

Don’t wait for tomorrow, or next week, or next month.

The rest of your life is today, no perfection necessary.

Follow all the rules for living a happy, healthy I’mperfect Life: The Rules