Hey there, friend—
There are 3 integral areas of focus for those on the path of self-discovery, and those are emotional healing, personal growth, and spiritual development.
Really, they’re all part of the one path. The differentiator is what part of that path you’re currently walking—and even that is always interwoven with the other aspects of your life.
The inner work you do in one area of your life may seem specific in and of itself, yet it has a very direct effect—something I call the “ripple effect”—on how you experience yourself and others in different areas other than where you’re working.
One of the core practices of all three of these legs of the journey is the art of self-forgiveness.
Forgiveness, in general, often wields a heavy hand—meaning, the idea of forgiving someone for the pain they’ve caused us can be a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people.
And isn’t it interesting how, even when we are able to forgive another, it’s so much harder to forgive ourselves? If this is you, this is where “the work” is calling you to.
I had dinner with a friend last week who shared that they have deep regrets about how they hurt someone they care for deeply—and this regret takes up quite a lot of space in their thoughts and their heart.
Whenever my friend thinks about or spends time with this person they hurt (who has forgiven them, by the way), it weighs heavy on them because they can see, sense and feel that their relationship isn’t the same as it once was.
This friend has been unable to forgive themself for the pain they caused and for the resulting damage that has ensued, and they continue to carry the burden of pain and shame.
We all have these kinds of regrets and one of the most difficult parts of healing and personal growth (for a lot of people) is forgiving ourselves for the choices we’ve made in the past.
The longer you carry it, the heavier it becomes.
Your ability to truly heal your past is largely dependent upon your ability to truly forgive yourself—just as much as forgiving others who have hurt you.
This week, I invite you to self-reflect on where you might still be carrying some excess because you haven’t yet forgiven yourself.
One of my teachers, the late Dr. David Simon, always used to say, “we were doing our best from our level of awareness at that time”.
Whatever you said or did or chose, at that time, was the only way you knew how to get your own needs met. Whether you meant to hurt someone else or not, you are a different person now.
It’s time to forgive yourself—truly forgive yourself—so that you can get the lesson, heal the wound and do better moving forward.
This is the path of true healing. This is the path of true growth. This is the path to greater peace, deeper connection, and our return to wholeness.
When we heal ourselves, we heal the world.
Always Be Rising,
An International Bestselling Author, Lifestyle and Leadership Coach and speaker, Tris Thorp is one of today’s leading experts in the field of personal growth and leadership development, specializing in emotional healing, women’s empowerment and shadow work.
Having spent a decade traveling the world, being trained by and sharing the stage with Dr. Deepak Chopra in the field of social emotional learning, consciousness and mindfulness-based practices, Tris has a real gift for integrating the ancient spiritual teachings with modern-day science and mindfulness to help people all over the world let go of their past and create an empowered new future.
During her tenure at the Chopra Center, Tris apprenticed under the Chopra Center’s co-founder Dr. David Simon, co-facilitating the Healing the Heart and Emotional Freedom workshops alongside him. Prior to his passing in 2012, Dr. Simon appointed Tris as the person to carry on his teachings in the field of emotional healing. In addition, Tris was fortunate to be mentored by the late Debbie Ford prior to her passing in 2013, which is where she continued her extensive studies of the unconscious mind and concepts of the persona and shadow. After the loss of her two mentors, Tris went on to become certified through the Ford Institute as a coach specializing in Shadow Work and reconciling mental and emotional issues stemming from past experiences. She continues to share the gifts of emotional healing and facilitating this work in the footsteps of her former mentors.
Tris is the International bestselling author of Healing Your Heart: Rewrite Your Story with Awareness and Intention. A guide book to understanding your emotions, how we create our story and workable tools and techniques to heal from the past, Healing Your Heart stewards you through the process of releasing mental and emotional baggage, forgiving yourself and others, setting and enforcing boundaries and consciously communicating your needs in a loving and effective way so you can be who you’re meant to be, do the things you want to do and have all that you deserve to have in this life.
Tris is also the co-author of bestseller Mental and Emotional Release® with Dr. Matt James. Written in a language both professionals and non-professionals can understand, Mental and Emotional Release® offers real life case studies, an overview of MER and its foundation, step by step scripts to follow, and clinical efficacy studies comparing MER to other therapies.
Clearly in her dharma, Tris’s passion and dedication to gently guide people on their inward journey through personal growth is evident in her work as a Lifestyle and Leadership coach, Trainer of Mental and Emotional Release and workshop facilitator. She teaches various courses on leadership development, personal empowerment, social emotional learning and higher states of consciousness – both in online courses and her certification programs, live workshops, VIP retreats and 1-1 clients.
Tris Thorp is Board Certified by the Association of Integrative Psychology as a Trainer of Mental and Emotional Release ®, Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Hypnosis, and Mental and Emotional Release ®, a Certified Reiki Master, and an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.
Tris is devoted to inspiring and empowering others to cultivate and maintain mindfulness-based lifestyle practices that lead to greater clarity, purpose and fulfillment. Through one-on-one coaching, online programs and live events, Tris specializes in helping people to fully release negative emotions, limiting beliefs and unconscious patterns, enabling them to make quantum leaps into the life they are truly meant to be living.