Is There Such a Thing as Self-Forgiveness?

When you self-forgive, you are practicing the virtue of mercy toward yourself. And this next point is very important: You continually extend virtues toward yourself, such as being fair to yourself (the virtue of justice), taking care of yourself (the virtues of kindness and wisdom), and being patient with yourself when you are learning new things in life. If you can practice all of these virtues toward yourself, why would anyone want to bar you from the most important of the moral virtues: loving yourself in the face of disappointment, disapproval, and in extreme cases, self-hatred?

Robert

Enright, Robert (2015-09-28). 8 Keys to Forgiveness (8 Keys to Mental Health) (p. 181). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

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Categories: Our Forgiveness Blog, Self-forgiveness

2 comments

  1. Lynn Hare says:

    Great post, Robert. I agree: the most important moral virtue is to love ourselves, in the face of disappointment, disapproval, and self-hatred. I find that when I forgive myself, I can gain an HD future-looking perspective; I’m more confident in my decisions; and I accept God’s ideas of my true identity more readily. Mistakes are where we were, not who we are.

  2. Samantha says:

    Nice set of ideas, Lynn. Some people think that forgiving the self is not possible. Yet, why not? Aren’t we to love one another? Is extending love only for others? I don’t think so especially when we are being very hard on ourselves. When we self-forgive, we have to make amends with those we have hurt and so that is one difference between forgiving others and forgiving oneself.

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