February came and went and at the beginning of March I went to Kona for an advanced Huna training (WOW is all I can say).  Ever optimistic, I thought I'd have time to write while there. Three weeks later I was home and looking at all the things I needed to catch up on when I realized I hadn't written the newsletters as planned.  I was so busy marketing upcoming trainings, working with clients, taking trainings, starting new projects, trying to get a good night's sleep, fighting with my printer, and so on that the newsletters just never happened.

Lovely excuses all.  The truth is I made goals, formulated intentions and somewhere along the way I let other things take priority over something that was truly important to me.   

Then I decided I wasn't going to think about the fact that I hadn't gotten the newsletters done as promised (denial) only to finally come to terms with the fact that I broke my promise and felt crappy about it (guilt). 

Now this may seem trivial to you, after all they are just newsletters, but it has much bigger implications. Lets be honest, who among us has made a promise, not fulfilled it and then started racking up the guilt? Or how about the time you said something mean-spirited or did something you later regretted and then felt guilty about it.  Maybe you even continued doing it.

Be careful of guilt.  It incubates and breeds like the little dust bunnies you find under your bed and like the dust bunnies it's usually unproductive.

So what to do?  The first thing is to forgive yourself.  We are but mere humans and can miss the mark from time to time (even you perfectionists and you know who you are). Let me clarify this a bit.  Forgiving oneself is not about finding the right excuses or letting yourself off the hook. It is about learning what doesn't work and taking that knowledge and modifying it so it works in a positive way in the future.  It is about the lesson or the feedback we get from the experience and how we can do it differently the next time that is of importance. 

Remember it took Thomas Edison hundreds of tries before he found the right combination of components that lead to the light bulb.  If T.E. felt guilty every time he "failed" to achieve his goal, just imagine where we'd be - stuck and still in the dark.  And this is where we metaphorically remain when we do not forgive ourselves or others. 

We are all just doing the best we know how with the skills and knowledge we have at any moment in time.  More importantly though is if we stay feeling guilty or angry or frustrated or worried, we just "stay" there, stuck.  And you have to ask yourself "how does this benefit me"?

Forgiving ourselves and others immediately changes how we feel and our perspective about where we are in life and where we want to go.  It enables us to move forward.  It teaches us to forge ahead.  And that is exactly what I am doing with this new monthly newsletter. 

Chris and I have been entrusted through our Huna lineage with a beautiful and simple visualization that creates the glorious gift of forgiveness.  For those of you who know it or have experienced it, I will remind you to practice it every day. 

If you have not experienced this process and would like to, just give me a call or email me.  We teach this lovely process in our Wisdom of Huna weekends.

With love and forgivenes until next month.