One of the things that I have noticed more frequently than anything else while trying to actively serve my family and everyone else I come across is just how often I fail. I have often reacted to failure strongly and with a sense of self-loathing and harsh judgement which, in retrospect, did little to advance my practice and, I am sure, was detrimental to it in at least a few cases. Still, since practicing with the heart is (in my own experience) more a matter of nuance and subtlety, it may be best not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
As such, I have found that repenting for any failures and errors I may have committed by simply mentally reciting a variation on the traditional phrase has given me the peace of mind I needed to continue. What’s more, when I offer myself forgiveness and seek repentance I am able to more clearly see the wrong I have committed and can reflect on it more objectively than would have been possible if I were trying to push it out of awareness.
It is strange that there seems to be so little emphasis on repentance in the Anglo-American insight tradition but it makes complete sense given the religious milieu from which many converts come. It is hard to understand contrition when there is no Father in Heaven to forgive us our sins and it may only be that repentance is possible when we have melted our hearts enough to know that we, as much as anyone else, deserve our own love and affection. For me, personally, I think I have reached a place me where I can acknowledge my shortcomings, repent of them and learn from them.
May all beings learn to act in accord with their own true welfare!
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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