Meeting Ourselves with Kindness - Stephen Levine

 When we turn toward our pain instead of away from it,
self-mercy enters those parts of ourselves we had closed off,
withdrawn from, or abandoned to feelings of impotence.  When
it seems there is nowhere else to turn, when all our prayers and
strategies [practices] seem to be of little avail, something deeper
arises: a mercy that leads toward the heart.

Without mercy (a quality of loving kindness that is the tender
acceptance of even that which might be otherwise unacceptable) as an
alternative to holding our pain, we abandon those most painful
memories within us to harsh judgment and merciless reflection.

The appearance of mercy ,...compassion... is absolutely
unmistakable as we learn to open into that which once was
closed off.

Memories may always be bittersweet, but me may also find
peace flickering at the edges of what once caused us agitation.
Healing, then, becomes not the absence of pain, but the
increased ability to meet it with mercy instead of loathing.
No one can wholly remove our pain.  All we can do is increase
the spaciousness of mind and heart in which it is allowed to
decompress.

We meet ourselves with simple kindness that confounds our
addiction to critical self-judgment.  We find ourselves more
likely to meet others' confusion and helplessness open-heartedly.
We find less need for others or ourselves to be different in order
to be loved.

We find ourselves...

Stephen Levine
from - Unattended Sorrow

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering