Seliḥah to the Inner Child Within Us, by Miriam Rubin • the Open Siddur Project

Tags: 21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., Correspondence as prayer, Correspondence to self, New York, North America, Prayers to self, וידוי vidui, זמן תשובה Zman teshuvah, סליחות səliḥot, על חטא Al Ḥeyt

Excerpt: A prayer of forgiveness to convey to one's inner and vulnerable self during the period of sometimes unrelenting and harsh introspection prior to the blessing for rain. . . .

Content:

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	inner child, i ask for your forgiveness! i recognize times when I’ve mistreated you, and i ask you, to please forgive me…
	For all the times that I’ve judged you, and you shut down. For the times when I’ve cast eyes of displeasure on your creative and luminous works, For the times when I secretly whisper nasty things about you, that I would never say out loud, For the times when I’ve asphyxiated you, and you felt cut off from your sacred life force…
	For all of these things, please forgive me, pardon me, heal me.
	For the times when I don’t believe in you, For the times when we quit because you felt scared and alone For not supporting you through these times, For not holding space for you and your emotions
	Please forgive me inner child! Pardon me, Heal Me
	For making decisions that dishonor and hurt you For creating conflict within For not following your requests because I’m scared For not regularly and reliably checking in with you For blaming you for life’s challenges, For not always providing you with a safe space to explore yourself and find pleasure in your gifts.
	Please forgive me inner child! Pardon me, Teach me, Heal me.
	Dear Inner Child,
	I wish for you, and bless you:
	to experience pleasure in your process of discovering yourself and your uniqueness,
	to experience pleasure in realizing both your complete greatness, and your complete smallness, and to feel pleased and tickled by the humor of this simultaneous reality.
	to experience acceptance of yourself, and your place amidst the many communities, creatures and ecosystems that co-create with you, the life of this planet
	to experience yourself meaningfully contributing in a profound way to the evolution of our species on this planet
	to experience great compassion for yourself and others
	to experience your capacity, talent, skill, perseverance and dedication to creating more beauty in the world
	to experience your ability to connect deeply to your inner knowing and to make clear decisions that are calibrated towards contributing to yourself and the world in positive, life-affirming ways.
	to experience tremendous respect for your ancestors and for the future
	to experience an embodied sense of how precious this life is
	to experience and channel your capacity to inspire others.
	may we all experience a profound forgiveness and a sweet turning to ourselves this season…
	love love love
	mir i am

Miriam Rubin writes,

i wrote this, the night of Sliḥot, the night of “Forgiveness”, when ancient prayers for forgiveness are sung and each person asks humbly to be pardoned from any misguided actions we have partaken in.

In the cycle of the Jewish Calendar, this is the period just before the New Year, when we take account of our actions, and ask for forgiveness and grace, so that we might be granted the opportunities to remake ourselves and grow in more resonant ways with our deeper calling…

may it inspire…

Featured Image:

Title: Nina Matthews Photography – Size Matters (CC-BY)
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