I found myself saying something very powerful to koda, my dog, one recent morning, that I felt like someone else might need to hear as well…

Last night koda had an accident on the floor, likely because he couldn’t wake me up. I’m sure he tried.

So I woke up to 💩 in 3 spots. This is so not like him at all and I know he gets super embarrassed when it happens. (good thing he can’t read 😉 )

So as he hung his head, feeling embarrassed and full of shame while I cleaned it up, I repeated over and over to him,

Just because you 💩 on the floor, doesn’t make me love you less. it was just an accident, it wasn’t your fault, you are not your mistakes, you are still a good doggy and do so much and give so much love. This was just an accident. I love you.

And I realized those are messages so often we need to hear ourselves. But often we beat ourselves up saying awful mean things and that serves to make us feel worse, when often it’s not a big deal, it’s something that can be cleaned up or sorted out quickly, and we can move on. (or even if it is a big deal, or feels like one, we still don’t deserve the harsh words we often say, and we deserve to find peace and move on)

But we hang on, and keep reliving the mistake or accident, when we didn’t do anything on purpose, or even if it seems it was on purpose, it likely came from an old wound we haven’t healed.

Instead of beating ourselves up, look at where you first heard those unkind words, take time to acknowledge the experience, and forgive yourself for not knowing better at the time and work to let go and release its hold on you.

When we know better, we do better… Most of the time. We are human beings learning as we go.

Our animal companions so often teach us the lessons we need, in ways that are much gentler than we teach ourselves. We just need to be open to their guidance.

So know that you are more than your mistakes. Mistakes simply mean you are brave enough to try and make the most out of the life you have! You are a good person deserving of love. It’s okay to forgive yourself and let go of replaying that old hurt over and over. You deserve peace. You deserve love. You are important and you matter to this world. You make a difference that you are living. I’m grateful you are here ❤️

“Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong actions in the past”

Go out and make today great, and do one kind thing to honour and love yourself ❤️ (or more! 🙂 ) and enjoy your day!!