Do you love yourself? Have you forgiven yourself?

In the last three years, I've had to learn how to forgive myself in order to truly love myself.
Life throws us curve balls.  We all have experience current life events that were traumatic.  We've done things we didn't like.  We've been treated poorly. So many things could have happened.  I will share a little about what happened to me and how I was able to take the advice I am about to share with you and change my life around.
I spend a majority of my life blaming others for my unhappiness.  First mistake, I made. I had to take responsibility for my own mistakes.  I was in an abusive relationship for 15 years. I blamed God for not changing my situation. I lived feeling that God must not love me. What happened to me was I developed a mindset that if God didn't love me why should I love myself. My reasoning to this thought was the fact I was mistreated, called names, put down for so many years.....God didn't hear my prayers. It wasn't until I changed my prayer. I ask God to change me. I wanted to be changed. I didn't want to feel the way I felt. There were many times, I wanted to disappear. The pain of abuse is hard. 
I did change. It has taken three years for me to shift my mindset. I have forgiven myself for all of my mistakes (I am not perfect) I forgive myself for not taking action sooner and leaving that abusive relationship. I forgave myself for blaming myself for many things gone wrong. And finally with this forgiveness I found self love.
See God loves me. He has always been with me. He was waiting for me to shift to awaken to change to be enlightened. I love me!
The key to self love is to "STOP CRITICIZING YOURSELF"!  This was hard for me because it was all I ever got from my abusive relationship. But once I stopped being mean to myself - that is when I feel in love with me. My beautiful soul. I began to change my thoughts. I began to speak in a positive attitude towards myself. 
These simple changes have so much power to your life!
We all have a choice.  Our words and our thought have POWER!
I encourage you today to sit in a quiet space. Turn on some soft spa type music. Take a sheet a paper and write down I forgive myself and I love myself. Sit and allow your inner self to send you those things that have been hurting you for a long time. Things you should forgive yourself for....and once those thoughts come through...repeat I forgive myself, I forgive myself,  I love myself, I love myself....if you have to cry...cry...allow yourself to feel this moment...and allow this release....once you've done this break that sheet in small pieces. You've done it. Now live freely.