Tikkun Hanefesh as Tikkun Olam

Instead of forgiving ourselves, we often avoid our own reality. We leave our weaknesses unacknowledged and completely refuse to identify what we have done wrong, because we can't face those parts of ourselves. But, in order to give ourselves a chance to step back and see the situations where we need forgiveness for ourselves, we must accept our past and understand and affirm our goodness beyond the mistakes we made. This means before we can forgive ourselves and practice tikkun hanefesh properly, we must face who we are deep down. Only when we do that can we truly repair ourselves and, ultimately, repair the world.