When you have misgivings, when you have twinges of regret, the thing to do is to let the whole thing go and never let what caused the misgivings to happen again. You told a lie, perhaps, that hurt someone's heart and yours. It may have been years ago, and still it bothers you. This regret is like a splinter. As with all splinters, you must remove it.

Perhaps you were cowardly once. Be brave now. Part of being brave is to let past errors go. Otherwise, you keep injuring yourself.

If what you have done cannot be undone, which must be so or you would not keep going over it, and you can no longer find the person you wronged and tell him you're sorry, then you must tell yourself you're sorry and that you will never let anything like that happen again. You must expunge your offense from your mind and stop looking back. Wounds are not to fester, beloved. There is no merit in your reopening them.

There is merit in leaving them behind. A scar is a scar. When you have a physical scar, you know enough not to keep digging at the scar. Yet with emotional wounds which you may have caused to yourself and another, you have persisted in stabbing yourself again and again. Over a mistake, you dig the knife in deeper and make yourself small.

I admonish you to cease regretting the past. Find another occupation. Rue in your heart is not useful, nor is it worthy. You have better things to do than to recriminate yourself. If you need forgiveness, well know there is nothing to forgive. There is something to let go of, and if that amounts to forgiveness, beloved, then forgive yourself and let go of it. Call it forgiveness or not, now remove the poisoned thoughts. Just as I would tell you to hold nothing against another, I tell you to hold nothing against yourself. You are not a ghost of the past to keep haunting yourself.

When you did whatever you did, you already knew better, and yet you did it. You did it to play to the crowd. You did it to gain something momentary, and so now you punish yourself permanently. I adjure you to stop this, beloved.

You punish yourself by thinking of the possible repercussions of what you did, what irreparable harm you may have done. There is no irreparable harm, beloved, not even to yourself. So now you must repair yourself so that you do not give further harm to yourself. Perhaps when you let go, the one you wronged will be able to let go too. Even if he does not remember the occasion at all, still he will be able to let go of it.

Certainly, the occasion taught you to be more caring and compassionate. At the time, even if you knew it wasn't right, you didn't think beyond that moment. You did not take the time to review the words or actions that you chose. You were a child then. Would you be so unforgiving to another child? Kindly remember that you are My child, and the Golden Rule suggests that you must treat yourself as well as you treat others.

Will you be kind to yourself today? Will you say once and for all: "I am so sorry for what I did. The sorrier I am, the more I have to let go of guilt."

Will you take your offense, dig a hole and bury it? And then bless yourself and the one you may have betrayed with the full knowledge that you betrayed yourself, and now you must stop trying to take out revenge on yourself. Revenge is not sweet. It is bitter. I want you to be sweet and gentle with all My children, and that includes yourself. I make no exceptions. Do this for Me now.