If there is one thought pattern to eliminate because it has absolutely no redeeming value, it is self-punishment.
So much of our inability to move forward and evolve is due to our inability to release the past and forgive ourselves. We punish ourselves for thoughts, actions and feelings, that we could just observe, forgive and then release! It’s an energetic catch-and-release program!
The by-product of self-punishment is shame. Shame keeps you from having all of your energy, passion and desire for life that you are capable of in the present moment. It lowers your vibration, and makes it hard to move forward!
You can’t create the best life you have to offer while punishing yourself for not being good enough. These two concepts don’t co-exist at the same time.
We punish ourselves because we believe mistakes are real. And, self-punishment creates an excuse not to grow and change. It becomes a familiar, predictable pattern.
Instead, if you said the “wrong thing”, fix it if you need to and move on. If you ate the “wrong thing”, let it go and eat differently next time. If you haven’t turned your home into a Martha Stewart enclave, love yourself anyway and enjoy life. We punish ourselves for being sick or injured, for taking time for ourselves, for buying into the illusion of letting someone down.
If you find yourself needing to punish another, search within yourself to see how you punish yourself in the same way. Punishing-type people feel shame about themselves, and they love to make others feel shamed, too! It is a sad cycle, and so destructive.
It’s easy to notice and release this pattern if you choose to. But you have to do it! You can read books, take classes, go to great readers and healers, but only each of us can heal ourselves.
At the end of each day, close your eyes and meditate. Notice if you are holding something against yourself. Is there something you said or did or thought that you would like to forgive? Can you observe it and let it go? This is what ‘being in present time’ is really about.
Reflect upon your day, and release the need to punish yourself for whatever you did that day that didn’t reflect your true spiritual nature. Witness your day’s events from your meditative space of love, compassion and neutrality. Release some energy, and move on. It is a waste of time and precious energy to continue punishing yourself. Practice detachment and be a loving observer of your self.
Punishment is not existent in Spirit. It’s an effect of the ego/mind that is wrapped within itself. Release the punishing thoughts that hold you hostage by giving them a color. Imagine them in an energetic brick and drop them down your grounding cord. Or, release them into a bubble in front of you and pop it.
Then, simply note: “I am not that punishing thought. I am of Divinity. I am not that judgmental thought, I am Love. I am not these worries and frustrations. I am a being of Eternal Light.”
The combination of what you will come up with are endless! I am never bored! You can do this in your meditation space, while driving, with friends or in line at the grocery store. It becomes routine.
Whether it’s a punishing thought towards yourself or towards someone else, it’s NOT who you are. You are limitless Love. The thought is the result of where you still make the mistake of forgetting the Truth of who you are!
You are a being of limitless Oneness that has a finite, physical body. In that body you are connected to the Oneness of all, and that includes that which you would call positive and negative. In Truth, you really can’t really discern if the negative, self-punishing thoughts are really your own, or floating around and you just happen to embrace them into your consciousness because they fit into your story. So as you practice catching and releasing them, you realize it’s useless to identify them as ‘mine.’ Observe them, see them as part of the illusion, and let them go.
The need to punish originates from where you feel you are somehow deficient or not okay. Punishing thoughts come from comparisons and competition. They are the result of us deciding we do not measure up.
Comparison and competition, like punishment, are the creation of the mind. There are no comparisons or competition in Spirit. All is One, and Oneness cannot compete because there is no “other.” In these bodies, however, we forget over and over that we are all One.
We see someone who we perceive as being better than ourselves, or different from ourselves, and the judgments and punishing thoughts take off. Again, meditate, and let them go! Know that whatever you think another person has that you don’t have, is an illusion. We are all One, yet all unique.
If you can stop thinking that you need to be like anyone else, or anyone else has to be like you, then you are on the path of having your special version of you and your unique qualities of what you have to offer.
Then, instead of punishing yourself for not being enough, you can admire where others are and thus bless your ability to create the most amazing version of you! Your vision and creativity are what are needed in this world, otherwise you would not have decided to reincarnate! Clones are boring!
Even on your worst day, all God wants you to know is, “Beloved child, you are forgiven already.” So breathe and relax. Your ego can’t fixate on what you, the being of love and light, refuses to see as a problem.
May you be blessed and supported on your path!
Rev. Hope Hewetson has been teaching and reading for over 25 years. Call Hope for a reading or healing at 303-530-0232, or email her at revhopi@gmail.com.
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