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Creative Life Midwife

Inspiring Artistic Rebirth

Self-Forgiveness: Often Forgotten, Always Worthwhile.

January 3, 2025 by jjscreativelifemidwife

Yesterday as we started our explorations with beliefs, you may have run into some bumps in the road. Today’s post is especially important in these circumstances AND it is priceless in all circumstances.

Today on our creative path we are going to examine self-forgiveness: what it is, how not forgiving ourself destructively impacts our lives and the lives of others and first steps to expressing yourself creatively as a means of healing.

One of the writing artists in history who get the concept of emotional intelligence was William Shakespeare. In “Winter’s Tale” he thoughtfully scribed these words: “Do as the heavens have done, forget your evil; With them forgive yourself.” 

Maybe this is where we get that famous quip, “Forgive and forget.”

We don’t often think about the forget YOUR self and FORGIVE yourself.

It is often like the verse in two books in the Bible – both Matthew and Mark – that quotes Jesus saying “Love your neighbor as yourself” and most of us never hear the “as yourself” component.

Last week I started doing a daily exercise of asking for forgiveness through journaling and jotting toward the end of the day. I write down the tiny “I forgive myself for forgetting to buy broccoli” to the worst “I forgive myself for talking so harshly to myself that I cried for thirty minutes and had to postpone my appointment,” which runs the risk of the need for more forgiveness in the future as well.

Latasha Morrison reminds us, “In order to move from awareness to acknowledgment, we must first be brave enough to accept the historical truths and modern realities.”

The subject of your self-forgiveness today most likely has been building for a much longer time.

I have found underneath the seeds of my simple self-forgiveness are bunches of negative self-belief standing nearby,  invisible in one ways but screaming out in other ways.

If you don’t try anything else in this month of blogging, please do this.

Jot a list of 1 – 5 things to forgive yourself for today.

Don’t think, just jot a phrase or two or all five.

If you are feeling energetic, read your list to a compassionate friend. You may also leave them here in the comments or send me an always private note.

I’ll start: I forgive myself for not writing the instructions for Coleen more clearly before I went to my appointment today.

I forgive myself for leaving my clothes on the bathroom floor.. Again.

I forgive myself for forgetting to make that telephone call again.

Next, it’s your turn. Start flexing your self-forgiveness muscles.

Julie Jordan Scott hugging a tree in High Point State Park in Sussex, NJ. Julie encourages thousands to over come their blocks and begin leading a more satisfying creative life.
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Meet Julie Jordan Scott:

🌟 Creative Life Coach & Muse Cultivator

 🎨 | Award-Winning Writer/Actor/Storyteller

🌱 | Empowering Your Second Act

🎉| New Courses/Programs Coming soon!

🎁   Your presence here makes me feel grateful. 

✍🏻I am a writer first, writing & creativity coach, multi passionate creative next. Writing has always been my anchor art and to her I always return. Thankfully, with great love.

🎯 My aim is to create content here that inspires and instructs – if there is ever a topic you would like for me to explore, please reach out and tell me. My ultimate goal is to create posts, videos and more that speak to your desires as well as mine because where these two intersect, our collaborative, joyful energy ignites into a fire of love, light and passionate creativity.

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Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, Daily Consistency, Rewriting the Narrative Tagged With: self-forgiveness

Gifts of Forgiveness + Haiku, Breath, Questions & Moving Your Pencil Across the Page

December 24, 2017 by jjscreativelifemidwife

In revisiting my life narrative, I am revisiting all experiences without weighing in on judgment in the process. I found this from 2011 when seeking writing tips to share via social media. 

Instead, I found this gift to pass along to you, now.

I woke up this morning feeling fear rumbling in the middle of my chest. My heart was racing just enough to tell me “I am afraid. I should be afraid, I should be worried, I should – I should- I should.”

I rolled over to look out the window at the soft morning light.

There was nothing in that light telling me to be afraid.

I got up and poured myself some ice water, some vitamins and stood, quietly, breathing
in the silence as I shusssshhhhed my heart internally.

There was nothing in the coolness of the water telling me to be afraid, to be worried.

I felt my feet as I walked back to lie down for a few more moments before beginning my day.

I allowed the pillows to support my neck and head. I completely felt the sheets against my skin, the soft breeze of the fan offering up refreshment at the beginning of what will be another more than warm day.

This is what forgiveness feels like: support,cool air, hushes like a gentle mommy as she taps our back as we try to sleep, fitfully. She breathes with us, reminding us everything is fine, truly, everything including us is just fine.

I am an expert at forgiving others.

I tend to let go and forgive long before the other person has even thought to ask for it. Sometimes I think I forgive too easily, before I have given the true meaning of grace its due.

The one person I am the least likely to forgive is myself.

This morning, I started understanding self-forgiveness on a deeper level.

My primary teacher/life coach/personal development guru for today’s integration lesson was Louisa
May Alcott. Many of us only know Louisa May Alcott as the author of the classic tale, “Little Women”.
She wrote and lived so much more than this one book that made her a household name.
She wrote, “We all make mistakes. It takes many experiences to shape a life. Try again.”
in her short story, “Transcendentalist Wild Oats”

She knew and lived forgiveness more than a hundred years ago. Reading one short story of hers gave me more insights than any personal development book written in this century or the last has given me.

I thought I had nothing to write today.

I started with haiku:

waiting for coffee ~
book opened to page ninety ~
eye glasses on desk

Re-read an essay I wrote in January and gleaned this sentence to tweet:

“Today I will continue to give space for my heart’s wisdom to rise above the tyranny of the “must do now” list.”

From there I tiptoed to this quote from Miss Alcott I had carefully copied yesterday and remembered my earliest moments from today. I decided they were share-worthy.

“We all make mistakes. It takes many experiences to shape a life. Try again.”

What forgiveness are you waiting to offer yourself?

Julie Jordan Scott inspires people to experience artistic rebirth via her programs, playshops, books, performances and simply being herself out in the world.  She is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy-extraordinaire and mixed-media artist  whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people’s creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming in soon!

 To contact Julie to schedule a Writing or Creative Life Coaching Session, call or text her at 661.444.2735.Facebooktwitterpinterest

Filed Under: Creative Life Coaching, Creative Process, End Writer's Block, Poetry, Writing Prompt, Writing Tips Tagged With: forgiveness, haiku, rewriting your narrative, self-forgiveness

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  • Self-Forgiveness: Often Forgotten, Always Worthwhile.
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How to Use Your Text & Other “Throwaway Writing” to Make All Your Writing Easier.

Trust in Creativity: Start with What’s Wrong

Self-Forgiveness: Often Forgotten, Always Worthwhile.

Beliefs: Review and Revise is it time? A clock face that needs revision with a bridge in the background.

Your Beliefs: Foundations of Your Creative Path to Peace

Introduction to “The Creative Path to Peace”

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