Forgiveness goes both directions

As I write this Yom Kippur is in a couple of days, which means that we are ending the forty days of spiritual preparation for Yom Kippur, Elul-Tishrei. As a visitor to Jewish traditions I find that the cycles and rhythms of the holidays and observations that the rabbis have developed in interpreting the Torah are psychologically very sound and wise. They allow for forty days for us to work up to asking for forgiveness, to turn things over, to let go, to begin again.

"Rabbi Andrea Weiss teaches that the month of Elul serves as a special transitional moment, reflecting the traditional image of bein hashamashot, literally 'between the suns.' She suggests that Elul (late August, early September) is 'a bridge between summer and fall, between long sunny days and crisp afternoons full of color and wind ... between who we are and what we want to be; between regret and repentance, guilt and renewal; between the frustration of accepted patterns and the promise to change.'
... According to tradition, Moses descended Mount Sinai on Rosh Hodesh Elul (the new moon of Elul) only to find that the Israelites had built a golden calf. After he shattered the two stone tablets in his hands, he once again climbed the mountain to receive the second set. He descended for the second time on the tenth of Tishrei, the day we observe Yom Kippur. We are taught that the Israelites spent the forty days during Moses' second mountain sojourn in t'shuvah (repentance), readying themselves to receive God's word.
... The great medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides, the Rambam, describes ... the three stages of t'shuvah: regret, rejection, and resolution. We first feel sorry for what we did (and so we make amends); then when we are confronted with the sin again, we don't repeat it ( that's how we know we really have repented); and finally we commit ourselves to a better life through righteous living (that's what fills our days ahead)." [from Preparing Your Hearts for the High Holy Days by Kerry M. Olitzky and Rachel T. Sabath]

T'shuvah is a complex concept, so I invite you to explore it further here or here. Whether or not you practice these traditions, they offer us wisdom and guidance about taking the time to examine what weighs on us and what gets in our way, and assurance that there is a Power beyond us as flawed individuals that, if we let go, turn it over, will help us open to new beginnings.