One of the things I love so much about the holiday season is that it focuses on giving. This season, I recommend giving yourself a gift and that’s the gift of grace.
All too often, we criticize ourselves for being less than perfect. Thoughts like “I should have mailed the Christmas cards earlier,” “I should have been more patient with my spouse and/or children,” or “I should be exercising instead of watching dog videos on Facebook” not only rear their ugly heads during the holiday season they can follow us into the new year.
Guilty thoughts that attempt to beat us up usually come from a desire to be perfect. And, even though most of us know that perfection is impossible, much of the”professional” advertising we see focuses on displaying perfection as a form of happiness or acceptance. Thank goodness for social media! Live raw video helps to remind us that nobody is perfect and to give ourselves a break.
Be Good To Yourself this holiday season
No matter how good you get at fending off the guilty voices that like to haunt all of us, they will show up from time to time. When a guilty thought enters your mind I recommend taking a moment to ask yourself where it’s coming from. If it’s a habit you know that you need to change, forgive yourself and tell yourself you’ll do better next time. If you’re feeling guilty about something that is based on society’s opinion of you, it may be something you need to shake off and tell yourself you don’t give a flip what others think. For example, you just ate a chocolate chip cookie full of gluten and loved it! There should never be guilt attached to food. Period. 🙂
I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life and Lord knows, I’ll make more. One of the most valuable things I’ve learned from people older and wiser than me is that no matter how many times you beat yourself up, you can’t change the past. Most of the time the issue causing the guilt is no big deal. If it’s something that involves others and you need to apologize then I recommend doing so. If your mistake or failure was a doozy (and I’ve had a few of those) then learn from the mistake and do better next time.
What’s important to remember at all times is that no one is perfect and that if you are doing your very best to be a good person and move forward in your life each day, that is good enough.
Here’s to a wonderful and guilt-free holiday season and new year!
Shared with love,
Jennifer