Hello and happy Sunday to you! How have you been treating yourself so far today? Could you be a bit gentler with yourself? I bet you could. I’m certainly working on this all the time. I’m learning that there’s a difference between acknowledging weaknesses and needlessly beating yourself up in places and times you feel you’ve failed. Acknowledgement allows you to accept where you’re at with grace and know that you can do better. The beating yourself up—the head in hands, grunt from deep within, obsessive spiral—is mean. You wouldn’t let a friend treat you that way when you’ve messed up (especially when it was only a perceived mistake!), so you shouldn’t speak to yourself that way either.