4 Reflection Questions to Practice Self-Compassion
Damn, we can be hard on ourselves!
As I have been in reflection in the last few months, I realize that I am often inflicting ALOT of harm on myself. Compassion and empathy for ourselves is the first step in our compassion and empathy for others. If we are dedicated to developing one, we’ll be also supporting the other. As we grow our self-compassion, it helps to get our thoughts down on paper. We can practice and sharpen self-compassion through the practice of mindfulness and self-inquiry.
Midway through the month of February, a time in which we are surrounded by the idea of love, here are 4 questions to help you take small steps in loving on yourself more:
In which ways are you aware that it’s time to slow down, rest, or reset? How can you better identify this before you hit that threshold?
What is one unfair expectation you have of self that you can stop pressuring yourself to meet?
Accepting that our daily best fluctuates - what does today’s best look like? How can you be more intentional with yourself to ask this daily?
When was the last time you were proud of yourself? What was the source of that pride?
Take some time today to reflect on these questions, maybe as an intention for a meditation or sound bath practice, or as a journal prompt for reflection afterward. And when we get you get unfairly tough on yourself, remember Nathaniel Branden’s quote, “Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself”.
Are there other ways in which you invite in self-compassion?
“ “Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself”.”
