I have to make acceptations for my past mistakes in the present to mitigate their impact. In this way, I can reconcile those past actions and therefore lessen their impact on my thoughts in my daily life and return to a “normal” level of my approach to life without having to make deviations to cater for them continually. In simple terms, “Don’t live in the past”.
Apologies to myself work for me to my benefit in that they are an articulation of my feelings of “doing the wrong thing” whether that thing is major or minor; the degree is immaterial. By articulating them, I define them rather them being a nebulous idea or concept in my mind. Once articulated, I can grasp them with an understanding and deal with them. It is a means of reconciliation within me. “Doing wrong” is completely subjective to me as what I consider “wrong” may be “alright” to others and vice versa. Nevertheless, “doing wrong” does have a meaningful impact on me and affects my life negatively.
In one way, “Doing wrong” is the only way we can learn. We can learn the concepts of “doing right”, but it only in the doing of them that we prove them to be right and if we make a mistake and “do wrong”, then this is a part of the learning process and is to be accepted as such with joy as it is improving us; every little bit helps.
Can we look at mistakes as a “Step forward” in that we are learning something that was not apparent to us at the time of the mistake? It may have been something that we were aware of but had not sufficiently embedded itself in our psyche to be readily available when we needed it. If it was not previous, it learned then most definitely a learning step to embrace its worth. But blind acceptance is not good, so we need to examine this learning in light of our core beliefs and doing such is the substance of further discussions.
To conclude, “doing wrong” has its benefits; it is not all negative.
Note: I have not considered morality or legal issues above, but the same applies in a general sense.