forgive yourself for happiness and time out for women giveaway

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I have been putting off writing this post for a while. It is a topic I feel passionately about. Forgiveness.
Forgiveness of others, but especially of ourselves, yourself even.

My thoughts have been tumbling around in my head for years now and I added it to my happiness list so then I had to write about it. I then became committed to do so. I made it public so I could not back out.

I decided to do this for you and for me. I need to get these feelings and thoughts out. They are important and often I feel that it is an area that as women we need to talk about so much more.

I have written before about how I feel we are harsh on ourselves and need to let go of the past.

As women I feel we get so comfortable putting ourselves down, being critical of our efforts and end up internally speaking in a negative way about everything we do. It becomes a new normal for us and we end up seeing no way that we can make a change to start being positive again.

In thinking about forgiving yourself for happiness I want you to think about:

Have you done things you are not proud of?
Do you feel there is no way to solve your problems?
Do you constantly spend time reliving your past mistakes?
Are you carrying around unnecessary burdens you need to let go of?

So often we carry unneccessary heavy burdens.

We lug them around and let the weight of these feelings and thoughts wear us down, discourage us and depress us. We end up feeling worn out, tired from trying to escape these feelings and left with no where to run. Then when we hit rock bottom it finally dawns on us that WE are the ones who need to let go.

As a mother I have made many mistakes.

I have lost my temper, been the kind of mother at times I never believed I would be and could be. 

I have tried my best to fix situations the best I can after those moments. 

I have gone out of my way to say sorry, to restore love to my home and to start again. 

That part was easy, forgiving myself however was much more difficult.

I find it so hard to forgive myself for experiences or feelings that may have happened.

After I while I realise that all this time I have been wandering around waiting for someone else to help me, to relieve me when really it was all left up to me all along.

We are in control of forgiving ourselves.
Letting go of the past can set us free to forgive ourselves.
It is a conscience choice that we make. A gift that we give ourselves.

Why is it possible to forgive others so freely and not to forgive ourselves?
Why cannot we be as kind to ourselves as we are to others?

Surely we are worth this kind of treatment ourselves.
Surely we are not that bad and deserve such harshness and to be denied self love.

I have struggled over the years to give myself permission to forgive...myself.
To give myself the gift of self love and the chance to start again.

I love that every day is a fresh start. A chance to do better, to be better and to become better.
To move forward, to try again and to be happy.

I know that forgiving yourself does bring happiness.
It is possible and so worth the time and effort.

Several times I have had to give myself the gift to fall apart, to weep and to suffer and to feel the pain I have been carrying around, unconsciously trying to protect myself. When this has happened, I have prayed, sought guidance and forgiveness has flowed naturally and smoothly.

I have been able to move forward, to feel light and free.
Thankful in the knowledge that I am here to learn, to grow and to make mistakes.

Mistakes are normal, they are necessary and will happen.
As I lighten up and give myself a break, I feel so much happier.
At peace even.

Maybe as women we need to give ourselves a little more time out to help us feel forgiveness.

I am so looking forward to going to Time Out for Women in Sydney and delighted that I have been given a Time Out for Women bag to giveaway on my blog. Check out how cute these bags are below:

These bags send a lovely message to everyone that women need some time out.

They are lovely and light and look great when you are carrying them around:

There is a lot of room inside and would be great even as a baby bag or church bag.
I have one lovely bag to give away to a Seven Cherubs reader. Here are the guidelines:

1. Add yourself as a follower on my blog
2. Open to Aussie residents only
3. Winner chosen by the random number generator
4. Entries close 1st July, 2011
5. For an extra entry share on facebook or twitter and come back and tell me
6. Please make sure you have your email attached to your profile or leave it below
7. Leave a comment below to enter

Only six more days left of happiness posts! The time has gone fast and I hope you have enjoyed reading my thoughts, I have so loved your comments. Thanks for dropping by.

Giveaway Closed - Congrats to Sapna.

Watch out for an email from me.