If I forgive myself am I letting myself off too easily?

Forgiving yourself isn’t the same as lowering your standards. Because forgiveness changes you.

How can it sound to confuse forgiving yourself with lowering your standards?

How has forgiveness changed you? How have you seen it change others?

The G Word

Where are you on the God Idea Continuum?

1. Pretty comfortable with the God Idea and God-talk

2. Hmmm, God is a little more complicated

3. God -talk is a trigger for me

4. Nope, don’t buy it.

Our exploration of forgiveness requires us to take a deeper, bigger view of not only the F Word, but also this G Word. We need words and images to talk about anything, including what we refer to as “”God.”  Can you recognize and honor the ways you necessarily box-in that 3rd strand whenever you put words and images to it? Can you also find ways to hold yourself accountable to a bigger, deeper perspective than the one you can have by yourself? No matter where you are at with the “concept” at a given moment?

Talk about this together! Ask someone about their responses and struggles with this and really listen.

3 Moves in Asking for Forgiveness

What does asking for forgiveness sound like?

1. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” Period. (No qualifiers.)

2. “I would like to receive your forgiveness.”

3. “I want to prove worthy of your trust again.”

When was a time you were on the receiving end of a “good “ apology? What meant the most to you in that? Tell a story of a bad apology. How did it miss the mark? What makes these things so hard to say?

Getting F'd - Forgiveness Challenge 2

Talk with someone you trust about this. What did you learn? What did it make you wonder? What was the hardest part for you?

Didn’t do it yet? Where can you practice that it is easier so you can build your skills for the harder places?