A wonderful friend of mine posted this on a forum the other day.  He has graciously given me permission to share it.

For many people, forgiving yourself is much more difficult than forgiving others. The problem here is that we know ourselves too well- we know what we were really thinking when we said the right things aloud, what our real motivations were, how petty our emotions can be. We see the correct behavior around us, and we know how bad we can be at heart. How can we forgive ourselves, when we know how good it felt inside when we hurt that jerk?

It is said that no one who likes sausage should ever watch it being made- it’s not an appetizing process. People are like sausages… when we look at a person, we don’t see all the disturbing things that shaped their souls. We don’t see the moments of shame and triumph, the instructional pains layered one upon the other since childhood that forged the soul we see. We see the finished sausage, and somehow imagine they were born that way.

But when we look at ourselves, we don’t see the sausage; we see all the horrible things that went into it, never dreaming that the sausages around us contain equally unsavory bits of meat and filler. What a gift it would be, the Scottish poet Burns tells us, to see ourselves as others see us. Try it once if you can: Block out all the secret knowledge of self, and look only at what the world can see… a talented, valued member of society. Accept that judgment now and then.