It’s common for us to feel uncomfortable about our bodies. We may judge them as not thin enough or attractive enough or strong enough or young enough or healthy enough.
An important part of self-compassion is extending kindness and care to the physical form we inhabit, appreciating its gifts rather than simply criticizing its shortcomings.
What a year 2021 was. If your experience was anything like mine, the year was a total mess – Covid, toxic politics, global warming, inflation. Maybe you’re feeling like a mess yourself – exhausted, hopeless, unproductive, confused, depressed.
When we can remain caring even in instances of distress, failure or sorrow, our loving-kindness manifests as compassion. It’s therefore important that we strengthen our ability to feel loving-kindness toward ourselves in order to become more self-compassionate.
There’s a paradox that lies at the heart of self-compassion practice:
We give ourselves compassion not to feel better, but because we feel bad.
When we experience difficult emotions like sadness, fear, shame, confusion, or disappointment, we often become overwhelmed. We can spiral into reactivity or shut down as we try to cope. One of the most powerful aspects of tender self-compassion is the ability to hold our difficult emotions with spaciousness and warmth, so we aren’t so overwhelmed.
