Forgive yourself.

This is what I am hearing from God today.

Forgive yourself for mistakes in your art Carin, it is the only path to improvement. There is nothing to be unsettled about, with your art.

You are making the correct mistakes.

You are making the correct mistakes to:

Understand yourself
Your childhood
Your needs
And your fears

The only way to improve is to make mistakes.

Really, there is nothing to forgive when one makes a mistake. Of course the shame, regret, or guilt show up because society and Satan tell us, “If it’s not perfect, it’s not right.”

Ask yourself, “If it’s imperfect, is it perfect for my learning?”

What have I learned today?

First off:

Our fears tell us where to forgive.
Looking at what we are afraid of can reveal doors we need to open, and release or rewrite stories that keep us frozen.
When we have new stories we are capable of unimaginable progress.
We are not to do this alone. Ask God to carry you and see who shows up to help.

What does this look like?

Imagine you are afraid to express yourself. Go back through your life, identify the pattern that leads to this fear. Ask yourself if it is true that it is not safe to speak up? Can you remember a time when you could speak well, and it was received positively? Now ask yourself, “Is it safe to express myself?” “Could it be safe to express myself?” “How would it feel to express myself without fear?”

I invite you to keep moving forward, making essential mistakes, loving yourself, asking good questions, and welcoming God into your everyday decisions. This will create a daily pattern of love.

Live in love, fear not, you are a bright and brilliant being.

This week I have been seeing my past mistakes. My past bad fashion choices. My past failure to put my artwork first. My bad communication. My failings.

As I have been repainting this 12 step series I have found a redeeming grace in this mass of mistakes.

It is this: If you don’t have contrast you can’t see the distance and depth of a composition. If the tones are too much the same, the painting becomes bland and uninteresting.

We need to see our shadows and light.

If we “pretend” that we are monks that have never experienced mistakes, we will live and present an empty dishonest life. Self honesty is the key to feeling peaceful and alive.

We need mistakes to learn.

We need mistakes to feel success.

We need mistakes to learn bravery.

We need mistakes to learn unconditional self love.

Mistakes mean we are moving forward. Uncovering them shows that we are a person of depth.

Picture yourself at all different ages? Can you see your victories like stars in a vast night sky?

Think of a time when you experienced hurt. Whose fault was it. Can you learn from it? Can you gather this hurt inside you and expel it. What would your body feel like without the old hurts? How could you feel – if those hurts didn’t define you as failure or a victim?

See your younger selves. Love them. Give them each grace. They were functioning from the knowledge they had.

Give yourself permission to function from a new story.

Your new story is that you are a Masterpiece. A rich universe. A library of experience. A person reborn.

Pray for help with this and then listen and act on what you feel impressed to do.

Next watch for miracles as you do your best to follow the impressions you’ve received.

As you acknowledge the light and dark of your character you will see your abilities increase. You will have more compassion for yourself and others. You will forgive yourself more readily and forgive others.

You will have peace.

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come.”

― William Wordsworth

Tag: mistakes

The Correct Mistakes

Reborn as a Vast Universe

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come.”

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,Hath had elsewhere its setting,And cometh from afar:Not in entire forgetfulness,And not in utter nakedness,But trailing clouds of glory do we come.”

“Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come.”