November 29, 2024

We judge our pasts, but we were not the people we are now when we lived that past. Therefore, we tend to judge our behaviors, actions, feelings, decisions, and thoughts of the past by who we are now. Monday morning quarterbacking gives the inner critic a license to judge ourselves harshly. If we try to make peace with our past by judging and punishing ourselves, we do ourselves a disservice. We can experience shame and remorse for past instances, which can weigh heavily. We can also live in the regret that, “If only I had done such and such my life would be far better than it is now.”