This is very helpful, especially if we're trying to develop compassion and forgiveness towards who we have been in the past. It's actually almost essential to be able to do this; because if we identify ourselves with our actions, rather than objectively seeing the person we were who was doing those actions at that time, objectively seeing the person who was under the influence of a certain hindrance, or objectively seeing the person who was under the influence of ignorance, which caused them to act in a certain way at that time, then we solidify ourselves into a solid entity that is so connected with our actions that they aren't capable of changing those actions.
In the regular retreat, Steve does a Compassion/Lovingkindness meditation ending with looking back and having compassion for ourselves. In the meditation he asks you to look at yourself when you were 6 years old, 10 years old, 15 years old, etc. So what is Steve trying to help you realize in that meditation? You weren't perfect, you were ignorant of many things, you made many mistakes. He's trying to help you realize, "Okay, I did this but that person who did that was ignorant." In a way, you are separating the person from the action. You are seeing what caused that action; the ignorance in the person who you were. By seeing the ignorance that caused you to do that certain action, then you are able to have compassion for the person who did that action.
This is something you can do for yourself in order to develop more compassion. Sometimes, perhaps even last week, we might have done something that we didn't do perfectly; maybe through a lack of awareness or because we had a hindrance in the mind, we did something unskillful, we spoke a nasty word to someone or did something that we didn't really want to do. If we then freeze ourselves in that time frame, that moment, and think, "Oh, I'm a terrible person. I made that mistake," then we just develop self-aversion.
But if we look at that particular moment in a Compassion/Lovingkindness meditation and investigate into it, what was the hindrance that caused that action? What was the ignorance I had? What was I attached to at that moment? You're seeing that you made a mistake due to a certain cause. That helps you to develop more understanding. You're not saying, "I am that action, I made that mistake, and I'm a terrible person and da-da-da-da-da-da...", which only causes you to keep hanging onto this and not being able to forgive yourself for these mistakes.
Some people, when they make a mistake, form a self-identity around this - I'm a terrible person, I made this mistake - and they can't forgive themselves. Yet, if we see that it was just a lack of awareness, a lack of mindfulness, a lack of compassion at that time, then we can try to forgive the person who we were, have compassion for them, and then make a determination to try to be more aware in the present and go on from there; then we can learn from our mistakes.
So separating the person from the action with ourselves is often almost essential in order to develop more understanding of the cause of the difficulties that we get into. To be able to look at them more objectively, and then try to find new ways of doing things so that we can prevent making the same mistakes again.