Did you resolve to reduce or eliminate your debt load this year?  The path to financial freedom may begin with forgiveness.

It’s easy to obsess over past mistakes, especially if they are still appearing on your credit card bills, renewing your regrets every month.

But how much does self-punishment and guilt really help us pursue a change in our lives?  Shopping provides a short-term high, and is often used, like gambling, alcohol, or binge eating, to fill some kind of a void.

If you are harbouring guilt or anger over your  financial sins of the past, you might just push yourself right back to the same old habits you want to avoid, desperate to quench the need for comfort and peace that isn’t coming from within.

I’m trying to do the same thing with my body – living with chronic pain at a young age means that I harbour a lot of guilt and anger at my body for not acting or feeling the way it “should.”  Through yoga I am coming to realize that patience and compassion may be the gateways to healing.

And so it is with money.  Try forgiveness on for size.  You may just find that you lose the compulsion to shop once you find peace within yourself.