Light Up Your Life – Forgive Yourself

Happy 4th of July! Today is our Independence Day, usually celebrated with great food and fireworks. We’ll be canning tomatoes today, then cooking a big meal in the evening to enjoy with family. I just wanted an excuse to take the whole day off to cook, play in the pool, chase James around the yard, and eat a lot of tomatoes!

I have a Light Up Your Life video here that’s a bit in-congruent with the festivities. It’s all about personal forgiveness – learning how to build compassion and empathy for YOURSELF.

Then I got to thinking about it and I think this is the best time to share this. What better day to learn about forgiveness and declare a personal cease-fire than on a night of fireworks and bright colors?

 Yep, I make a lot of mistakes, and made many on this little art journal quilt! Rather than get frustrated and angry with myself, I’ve just taken it in stride.

It’s taken me years to learn compassion for myself. Self judgement and criticism are horrible monsters to live with in your head, and very hard to ignore.

I have a lot more to share on learning compassion, but for this post I just want to remind you that it’s never too late to STOP judging yourself, criticizing yourself, and find that softer, compassionate voice in your mind.

One tool I have used over the years is pivoting off major holidays as a way to let go and release my negativity and resentment. I think 4th of July is a perfect day because the bright lights and fireworks are a bit like a Holi Festival.

A Holi Festival is a Hindu festival of light and color that signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships (Wikipedia).

I’ve seen photos of Holi festivals and would love to attend, literally swim in color for a day, and then as it washes off, also allow it to take all my lingering resentment with it. I believe you can find symbols and methods of release like this throughout the year, and it never hurts to lighten your load.

I’ve been lumbering under a lot of regrets this spring – I’ve been traveling too much, I missed a lot of James’s school events, and our business isn’t in the same shape it was last year. Tonight I’m going to release all my regrets and lingering judgement, imagining them exploding one after the other with our fireworks this evening.

So what about you? Do you find it easy to forgive your mistakes or do you keep beating yourself up for things you’ve done or said, even years after the fact? Do you leave mistakes in your quilts, or do you have to rip? Have you ever used a firework display, or bonfire as a way to set down your negativity and move forward with fresh outlook?

It’s definitely never too late to learn how to release the negativity in your life! Start today.

Let’s get moving. Try something new!

Leah Day