By Dawn Onley

Anais Nin called shame: “The lie someone told you about yourself.”

When you are feeling down, you may be more apt to beat yourself up with language like “I never do anything right,” or “for once why can’t I win?” You may spend precious time lamenting a past decision or a past failure.

You may believe you are not capable or worthy of anything good. You may have even taken on a victim mentality, blaming someone else for your misfortune.

Stop.

Don’t believe the lie. Don’t internalize the lie. Don’t spread the lie.

It’s never too late to shed any narrative that casts you in a losing light. You are not a loser, so stop acting like one.

It’s never too late to shed the cloak of failure.

You are powerful beyond belief. You are an overcomer. You are a survivor. You went through and came out on the other side. You’re still alive. You were not defeated.

You can choose to see the full picture instead of just a snapshot. Most of us have things that we’d do over if given the chance. Well, we DO have that chance. The best way to remove shame is to live a life of honor; to give ourselves approval to make mistakes without feeling like we are one; to grow into who we were always meant to be; to love ourselves unconditionally and to be gentle in how we treat ourselves.

To rid regret and shame from our thought patterns, we need to start believing the truth and stop believing the lie.