We will now focus our awareness on nurturing compassion for ourselves.
Allow the thought or image to arise of a time when you behaved in a way you wish you hadn't.
Be gentle with yourself and try to trust whatever comes up.
Just be with it.
Notice feelings,
Behaviors,
Without adding blame or judgment to the interaction or memory.
Now allow a non-judgmental curiosity to arise about what might have happened in your life,
To you or perhaps was witnessed by you that might have influenced you to behave in this manner.
Give this some time.
No pushing.
Just wonder about it all.
Allow images or thoughts to fill out what you know about your personal history that might help you understand your life with more compassion.
Stay with this experience for a while.
Stay with this experience for a while.
Gently return your awareness to the present.
Has there been a shift in your feelings or thoughts about the incident?
Perhaps a lightening of the heart?
Is there still more work to do?
If there's still judgment,
Can that be noticed without making more judgment?
We are opening our door to compassion when we become aware of ourselves and our interconnection with others,
Without judgment,
Without blame.
When we have expanded our ability to have empathy for the pain and suffering of others and embrace ourselves with the same compassion we share with others,
We have found a more peaceful,
Compassionate way of living,
Of being.
It is no different than any saint or spiritual master's way of being.
The experience of compassion is not a special gift for some and not for others.
It is a natural,
Open response to life,
To embracing ourselves and others when there is nothing in the way,
No assumptions,
No judgment,
No blame.
Some of us need to work hard to open our hearts.
There have been so many painful experiences that we have shielded our hearts,
Unconsciously believing we are protecting ourselves from more pain.
The problem is that we are also shielding from feeling love and joy as well.
Our desire to feel again must include the willingness to experience pain again once our hearts are more open.
It comes together,
The joy and the pain.
The three meditations we have used can be helpful to practice on your own,
Often.
Each one leads us through the pain we ordinarily experience into a different perspective,
A fresh new experience of our minds and our hearts.
With our hearts and minds open,
We are truly alive and we are ready to receive and give to whatever comes our way.
Please find this out for yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
