Sometimes the most difficult person to forgive is yourself, especially if you’ve been steeped in guilt your whole life. Can you imagine how much easier life would be if we could forgive ourselves for all of the wrong decisions we’ve made, or for any pain we’ve caused? What if we learned the lesson? Could we move on?

Guilt is such a waste of energy. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t feel like they could have been a better parent, by setting more boundaries, or fewer boundaries, or spoiling them less, or giving them more, etc. We must realize, though, that this perspective is an energy leak; it do...