RE: Practicing Self-Compassion Day 3
A great practice - compassion. Whether for self or others.
A lot of people think when we have compassion for others it's for the "other" person but in fact it is for ourselves. And compassion for oneself is obviously for ourselves.
Compassion is the abstract way of being able to empathise with someone when we don't understand their circumstances. It releases us.
Compassion for self is the antidote to judgment - from whence suffering comes.
I wrote a trilogy of posts on a genius way to deal with bullies and compassion (in this case for the other) is very valuable there. For when we've dealt successfully with the bully we still have to process and release their stress and suffering that has been put onto us. And that they are bullying us is because they are suffering themselves.
Thanks for your reply @petervroom. Compassion for others definitely increases our compassion for ourselves. If we spend time helping people who are suffering and in pain, we notice that we are not alone in our struggles. We notice that we are all in this together.
Compassion does soften judgment towards ourselves and others.
I do believe that all of us become aggressive towards others sometimes because we mishandle our suffering. I will check your posts about dealing with bullies. Although I'm not getting bullied currently (Hopefully I don't ever anymore!) it might come in handy in the future.
Cheers!