Self Compassion

This meditation guides you to feel compassion for yourself in the midst of your suffering

Transcript

Now take a comfortable position and take a few full deep breaths.

Inhaling deeply,

Filling the lungs and maybe hold for a moment and then gently releasing,

Letting go.

Allow yourself to fully arrive here in this moment to the sound of my voice,

The feel of the body,

Of your body against the chair,

The feel of your breath.

And now call to mind something that's been difficult for you in your life.

Could be a course struggle that you've had for a long time.

Could be something that you're just dealing with this week.

Something you don't like about yourself or your current life.

Something you want to change.

Maybe difficult thoughts or emotions in your system or some situation in your life.

Just bring to mind something.

How does this struggle impact you?

Where does it hold you back in life?

What are you not doing or not living as a result of this struggle?

Really allow yourself to feel the struggle that you have.

And just feel how stuck you feel with it.

Now as you're feeling this pain that you've likely felt so many times in your life,

Sensing this place you feel stuck,

Drained,

Hopeless,

Anxious or angry,

Just take a moment and check in.

So this is a pause.

Just take a moment with yourself.

Stop and ask,

Am I blaming or judging myself for being in this place?

For not doing a better job of figuring this out?

So that you're not only feeling the underlying pain or difficulty in your life,

But you're adding to the raw pain the additional suffering of blame and judgment.

So in this very moment you can ask,

Have I turned on myself?

Notice if you've been holding this life pain against yourself.

For how you've been handling it.

Maybe you've been feeling like a victim or maybe you've been obsessing,

Maybe you've been lashing out.

Have you been adding a second layer of blame or judgment on top of an already difficult life experience for you?

And then ask yourself,

What does this underlying hurt place in me most need?

What does this hurt,

Stuck,

Difficult part of me need right now?

Does it need more judgment and blame about how I'm handling it?

Instead of the judgment or constant pushing yourself to fix it,

Planning,

Trying to make things happen,

What would it be like instead to just say to yourself,

I see all of this pain you've been carrying and I care.

I see you and I care that this has been rough for you.

I'm here for you.

I care about this pain you're enduring.

I care about this suffering and I'm with you.

I don't know quite what to do about this pain or how to fix it,

But I see how hard this is for you and I really care.

I don't want you to live in this pain.

This is very hard for most people to do at first,

So just go easy on yourself and see what you can do in line with these instructions.

You might be thinking it's not okay to condone and give myself positive feelings as I am because then this struggle won't change and I'll be stuck with it or my behavior will keep hurting myself or others or I don't deserve it.

I should be better.

But self-compassion is not about condoning.

It's about releasing criticism and blame and hatred,

About releasing aversiveness for ourselves.

It's releasing the unnecessary suffering of resistance,

Indulgence,

Or judgment that we're adding to the raw pain of life.

The struggle you find yourself in today is not really your fault.

You haven't known how to perfectly deal with your situation and then you consciously chose to make your life more difficult and struggle instead.

Where you're at in life is caused by innumerable forces out of your control,

Like your genetics or the way your parents treated you or environmental pollutants,

To name a few.

The way we react in habitual,

Conditioned ways is not really in our control.

Often it feels wrong to us though to say that our current struggle is not our fault,

That we didn't cause this,

Because it feels like we're evading responsibility and not taking responsibility for our lives.

But the irony is the exact opposite.

It's compassion and kindness toward yourself in the midst of your suffering that allows you to face your reality more clearly.

It allows you to open to the actual underlying feelings you're having in your struggle,

The hurt or fear,

Loss or anger,

And be willing,

And this takes courage,

To just feel the underlying hurt place.

Kindness and care for ourselves allows us to contact the realness of our suffering,

To have a quivering of heart.

When we soften our hearts to ourselves,

It actually allows us to have and integrate our whole experience,

So we're whole and undivided.

When we're not in opposition to ourselves,

We're more whole.

And it's from this place of non-division that we can respond to life with our full intelligence,

Rather than react unconsciously from our conditioned patterns.

From here,

Wise action can happen.

It's okay to be you and where you're at.

It's the only place you can be in this moment.

Denying your reality just creates division and unnecessary suffering.

Honor yourself,

Your life,

Your imperfect humanness,

And meet your suffering with care.

So now go ahead and put your hand on your heart.

So lift your hand up to your chest,

And vary the pressure of your hand so that the pressure is tender.

And just be with yourself with kindness.

As you think about what you're really struggling with in life,

Just say to yourself,

I see you,

And I care.

With a gentleness and kindness,

Say,

I care.

See what happens when you intentionally bring kindness to the place that's vulnerable.

Just see what happens.

I see you.

I see how hard this has been for you.

I really see,

And I care.

It's as if you're communicating to your inner life,

It's okay.

I'm here with you in the midst of this struggle.

And touch yourself with tenderness.

Feel the sensations of your hand against your chest.

Feel warmth and kindness emanating from your hand.

So feel warmth and kindness emanating from your hand.

And feel the tenderness of your hand against your chest.

I see you.

I know this is hard for you,

And I care.

I see you.

I know this is hard for you,

And I care.

And now this exercise is coming to a close.

So when you're ready,

You can put your hand down,

Put your attention on your breath,

Take a few full deep breaths.

Reviews

So excellent! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It alloweed me to feel calm, centered, and helped me to feel compassion, for myself. Thank you…🙏🏼♥️

Empowering and helped me to reframe the issue. Thank you!

Amazing meditation. I’m struggling with a situation and this has brightened my Sunday morning. Thank you thank you thank you 🙏🏼

Great self compassion heart nourishing meditation <3

Perfect timing to have found this practice, thank you!🙏🏼🕉

Absolutely beautiful

Listened to this twice. It’s melting my iced heart. Thank you

Thank you, I’m beginning to realise my self worth. That my old belief system is an illusion 🙏

Thank you, Kelly!

Truly beautiful and self nurturing, forgiving

Thanks is was just what I needed🙏🏼

Very nice and helpfull❤️

This was very lovely! I see you, I know it is hard for you and I care ❤

Loving kindness towards self. A wonderful meditation. Thank you!

Made me tear up a bit today. Tender words.

Highly recommend for anyone feeling shame or self judgment.

Just what was needed.
Thank you!

Amazing way to remember to not judge yourself after and love you above all

Feels good to spend a few moments being on my side. I cried