Self-compassion involves acting the same way towards yourself when you are having a difficult time, fail, or notice something you don’t like about yourself.
Instead of just ignoring your pain with a ‘stiff upper lip’ mentality,
you stop to tell yourself, ‘This is really difficult right now,’
how can I comfort and care for myself in this moment?”
Kristen Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
Only one of our relationships is truly lifelong, from our first breath to our last. The one we have with ourselves. Imagine if it was characterised by compassion and warmth. By an ability to forgive, to forget our little missteps. Imagine if we could look at ourselves with gentle, kind eyes and view our faults with a sense of humour. Imagine if we could give ourselves the same loving care we give our children or other people we love without reservation. It would do us a world of good. And the divine emotions in us would thrive.
from this nice, heartfelt book which I am just finishing – Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, I May be Wrong, and other wisdoms from life as a Forest Monk.
What progress, you ask, have I made?
I have begun to be a friend to myself.
Hecato of Rhodes, c. 100 BC, Stoic philosopher, quoted in Seneca, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium VI
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