Season of Nonviolence - Day 20

Welcome to Day 20 of the Season of Nonviolence – 64 Days of peaceful wisdom honoring the lives and nonviolent principles of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez.

Nonviolence begins with learning how to be less violent and more compassionate towards ourselves. We learn by building the courage to speak and act with respect, honor and reverence for our own being.

Eleanor Roosevelt has urged, "You must do the things that you think you cannot do." Practicing these 64 Ways will challenge you to do things that you think you cannot do.

Day 20: SELF- FORGIVENESS

When I judge myself, I tend to believe that who I am is what I have done or not done, what I have or do not have.  I know that who I am is greater than all these things.   I am greater than any mistake I have ever made.  When we get even the slightest glimpse of the unity of life, we realize that sitting in judgment of other people and countries and races, I'm training my mind to sit in judgment of myself.  As I forgive others, I am teaching the mind to respond with forgiveness everywhere, even to the misdeeds and mistakes of my own past.  Practicing self-forgiveness is a foundation for practicing nonviolence.

Today:  I will write an apology letter to myself for anything I have done to myself that I wish I had not, or ways that I have disappointed myself and not fully lived up to my potential.  I'll mail the letter to myself and when it arrives, I will read it in a quiet place.