One of the most important teachings that Jesus gave us concerns forgiveness;forgiveness from Him for us and forgiveness from us for others.But it is also essential for both our mental and spiritual health that we continually forgive ourselves.Dwelling on the past makes it more not less likely that we will repeat our mistakes.Yes we need to learn from our mistakes but that only requires a quick review,not a compulsive meditative immersion into them.Since our subconscious minds take action on REPETITIVE THOUGHTS OF ANY NATURE, because they do not have the ability to distinguish between positive and negative,good and bad,pure and evil thoughts;it is essential not to dwell on mistakes because to do so will give our subconscious minds the unintentional command to repeat them;the subconscious mind's automatic reaction to repetition.
This true story illustrates this point well.A high school football coach found himself caught up in a horrible losing streak without a clue of what he could do to pull his team out of it.When his players made their frequent mistakes,he would pull them off the field,yell and scream at them telling them exactly what they had done wrong and then tell them to go and sit on the bench and think about what they had done wrong.Of course when they returned to the field they repeated their mistakes because they had memorized them and their intense mental review gave instructions to their subconscious minds, telling them exactly what to do again.Finally the coach had a brilliant idea.He stopped yelling and screaming at his players and telling them what they were doing wrong.Instead in a calm voice he said "NEXT TIME DO IT THIS WAY ..." and he then explained the correct behavior for his players.And guess what? His team quickly broke its losing streak! He was teaching his players how to win now rather than giving them mistake instructions as he had been doing.
If only our family ,teachers and employers could learn this lesson.From a spiritual perspective,its a decision to change behavior with the forgiving and patient love of God instead of the condemning impulsive anger of Satan.
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