I have noticed that some people can be very critical of themselves. When people have low esteem or a tendency to judge themselves harshly, there is a danger that confronting their own faults can just end up reinforcing an unhealthy self-image. A negative fabricated identity can come to seem even more real and solid, and this makes it harder for people to transform. For such people in particular, but also for many of us in general, it is wiser to face our own faults within an overall spirit of forgiveness. Within relationships as well as within our own lives, we need space to grow and learn from our own mistakes. To that end, forgiving ourselves, as well as others, is a powerful tool for change.

17th Karmapa

from the book The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out

Read a random quote or see all quotes by the 17th Karmapa.

Further quotes from the book The Heart Is Noble:

• Our relationship to the material world
• We truly have everything we need already
• Capacity for Change
• Who are you
• Let the moon be the keeper of my love
• True Wealth
• Taking delight in your inner nature
• Reality is your teacher
• Interdependent reality
• Protective Inner Wisdom
• The Wealth of Contentment
• Social action
• Life in Balance
• Boxing Love with Our Expectations
• Just Love
• There are no fixed starting points
• Nothing is intrinsically bad
• Difference without Division
• Breaking barriers