What to Do With Guilt
“Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the right attitude toward others.
~~Wilfred Peterson, This Week (Oct. 1, 1961)”
Hello — I hope you’ve been enjoying the articles this past week.
In today’s article, I’d like to invite another guest, Roger and Kathy Cawthon of the Cancer Crusade, to share some thoughts with us. You can learn more about them at : http://www.thecancercrusade.com
We have run other articles by the Cawthons in the past, but this one is especially pertinent to the recent articles we’ve been discussing here.
I can imagine that there are some of you who are mentally kicking yourselves in the butt because you didn’t do this or you didn’t do that to promote your own good health and wellness. Now you’re reading this blog and you’re thinking, “If only I wouldn’t have done (blank)” — or — “I knew better but I just went ahead and did (blank)”.
The article by the Cawthons deals with those same kind of mental butt-kicking thoughts. Theirs were generated because of the cancer that they now live with everyday. But they also talk about the first important lesson they had to learn in order to move on with their lives and work on their health — and that was to learn to forgive themselves.
Here’s a quote from the following article that needs special attention:
“Forgiveness is always in season, but the beginning of a new year is an especially good time to forgive ourselves and to remember that regretting past mistakes and worrying about tomorrow does not support our health goals.“
Can you see how this will apply to anyone working on thier own health and wellness goals?
Have a great weekend. We’ll be back on Monday.
Shanti,
Ron
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by: Roger and Kathy Cawthon
The Cancer Crusade
http://www.thecancercrusade.com
I spent a lot of time beating myself up when I was diagnosed with cancer. Why had I smoked as a teenager and young adult? Why had I allowed those extra pounds to creep on in middle age? Why had I not exercised or eaten an apple a day or binged on broccoli instead of cookies?
One of the first and toughest things I had to do in order to begin the recovery process was forgive myself for a lifetime of taking my healthy body for granted and treating it with less than the greatest of respect.
Forgiveness is always in season, but the beginning of a new year is an especially good time to forgive ourselves and to remember that regretting past mistakes and worrying about tomorrow does not support our health goals.
Perhaps more than anyone else, cancer survivors and others facing serious illness need to let go of the past. We need to remember that in many cases, there are no answers to the riddles of disease. Many people who have taken incredibly good care of themselves all of their lives get cancer and other serious diseases, too. We need to let go of the obsession many of us have with finding out “what went wrong.” And if we imagine that it is something we did or didn’t do, we need to forgive ourselves. One way to do that is to turn our backs on the past and learn to live in the moment.
How? We can take a cue from those recovering from the illness of addiction, those who remind themselves and one another that we can only live our lives “one day at a time.” There are even days when we can only endure an hour at a time, even one minute at a time, but the minutes and the hours and the days endured are victories in and of themselves. They are battles won, and they are to be celebrated joyously. These are the moments that add up to the sums of our lives.
Resolve to celebrate every morning that you open your eyes, every contact with a loved one, every moment that you draw breath, the breath itself, every seemingly inconsequential thing or occurrence which, if examined closely, reveals a miracle.
When you temporarily lose your resolve, don’t give up. Remind yourself that this is a new approach that requires practice, and gently return your attention to the present moment. If you can focus on this task and make it a conscious practice each and every day, its promise is that the joyful moments will greatly outweigh the sorrowful ones when the sums of our lives are tallied.
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When was the last time you were in your best physical shape possible?
Perhaps there’s a reason you chose to read this particular message at this particular time.
Is it possible that your life is about to change starting at this moment?
Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you really took charge and became the healthy and happy person you were meant to be?
Have you ever truly experienced limitless energy, youthful glowing skin at any age, and an unstoppable passion for your career, your family and yourself?
I urge you to continue to read these articles.
I also urge you to think about what nutritional factors are affecting your health.
Are you eating healthy food – good carbohydrates and good fats?
What about supplements? Are you taking any?
Take a look at the links I have over on the left panel of this blog — they’re the ones under the header “Pages” — My Health Products – Testimonials — and Uses for My Products. Read through those pages and then contact me with your questions. I’m here to help you to achieve your health and fitness goals.
http://www.proactivityteam.com/ronrink
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