By Roselle Kovitz
Whether your inner critic is as vocal as mine or not, self-compassion is a great practice for integrating all of those naturally imperfect aspects of ourselves and for cultivating kindness from the inside out.
Read on fetzer.org
CLEAR ALL
According to the dictionary, to forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward yourself or others for some perceived offense, flaw, or mistake. Keeping that definition in mind, forgiveness becomes a form of compassion.
Call it love, kindness, compassion for all beings—it’s the real elixir, the only one that truly transforms life for ourselves and others.
Compassion gets a lot of attention in positive psychology, and for good reason – it’s a major concern of many religious and philosophical leaders, including the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis.
2
There are certain traits that kind people have, and they may not even realize it. Since they are naturally kind-hearted, behaving in the way that they do comes easily to them.
1
In 1989, at one of the first international Buddhist teacher meetings, Western teachers brought up the enormous problem of unworthiness and self-criticism, shame and self-hatred that frequently they arise in Western students’ practice.
At a weekend workshop I led, one of the participants, Marian, shared her story about the shame and guilt that had tortured her.
Through the acronym RAIN (Recognize-Allow-Investigate-Nurture) we can awaken the qualities of mature compassion—an embodied, mindful presence, active caring, and an all-inclusive heart.