Compassion is the ability to witness and be present to the suffering of another being. It is a deep awareness of their pain and suffering while holding space for them with empathy, tenderness, care, kind-heartedness, love, in a non-judgemental manner. Self-compassion on the other hand, is directing the above mentioned qualities towards oneself!
Self-compassion or Compassion towards oneself is crucial and instrumental in our healing journey. Self-compassion reduces the impact of stress and helps us rebound from traumatic experiences. Oftentimes, our brain gets fixated on things that went wrong, and all the painful, toxic and harmful memories cause us anxiety or worry. We tend to focus on the bad decisions we made, blame ourselves for our broken relationships, mishaps, our failures etc. Our mind keeps replaying the negative experiences over and over and we judge ourselves harshly for things that go wrong in the world!
Isn’t it ironic that we have compassion for others but rarely towards ourselves? We get pretty judgemental and impatient with ourselves. We forget that mistakes, disappointments and challenges are part and parcel of life. In reality, they shape us and enable us to evolve as human beings.
Healing begins with us being present and having empathy for ourselves and our suffering! If we’re not there for ourselves, who will be? In order to experience true joy, peace and tranquillity, we need to stop looking at self-compassion as an over-indulgence or a faux pas!
Fundamentally, in order to heal, we really need to open our hearts, breathe in love and kindness and self-compassion, all of which can be cultivated. It just takes practice! Wherever we put our awareness, our Qi/energy/prana will follow. Therefore, it would be wise to bring our attention to our body through simple, meditative movement practices like Tai chi, yoga, or even walking, swimming etc. I have encouraged several clients to heal themselves by just devoting 20-30 minutes a day in embodiment practices. Gradually, over a period of time, they developed a wonderful body awareness and improved health and wellbeing.
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