Day 187: Forgive & Forget or Just Forgive?

The fact that my 50th year is now more than half over hasn't been lost on me. Neither has the goal of learning something new or positive each day. I like to learn, I always have. I just wish that sometimes the lessons of life wouldn't be so hard or painful. Maybe they aren't that way for everyone, but they are for me.

As I have written here before, I never do things the easy way; always the hard way. I don't do this intentionally. I just tend to be too stubborn for my own good. It takes a lot to change my mind, or to make me give up on something I really want, or believe in.

Ah, but again I am digressing (just like in real life, any shiny object seems to work for me). I intended to write about forgiveness. Not about forgiving other people, but forgiving yourself and moving on."They" say that one should always forgive and forget those who hurt us or do something wrong. But, does this also apply when we need to forgive ourselves?

I have been pondering this for months now, and keep coming back to the same question. That is, if we forget what we have done, aren't we doomed to repeat the same mistake again? Is it possible to forgive ourselves, yet still remember? Or, do we really have to just let it go from our minds to really forgive?

I know that keeping it at the forefront of my mind is keeping me stuck, and while I keep going through the motions of moving forward, I haven't really. It seems that not letting go is just a way of perpetually repeating the same mistake. And, while I appreciate every new-agey, positive affirmation that tells me to move on, I would appreciate it even more if "they" also included instructions on how to do that.