Kindfulness

Treat yourself like a friend, not an enemy

09/04/2024

The practice of mindfulness tends to increase our level of compassion. But we still fall into the trap of being compassionate towards others while being unfairly harsh on ourselves.

We can greatly improve our experience of life through the practice of self compassion which means treating ourselves as we would treat a friend with our faults and our virtues.

A space in which to choose

Mindfulness practice gives us the opportunity to pause when we realise we are attacking ourselves harshly. Then we have a space in which to choose to treat ourselves with kindness, acknowledging our mistakes if necessary but doing so in a friendly way. 

In other words that pause can enable you to treat yourself like a friend and not like an enemy.

This Daily Bell might also help:

The person towards whom you need to be self-compassionate is the person you are right now. If you wait until you achieve perfection, you may be waiting for a long time! In any case, the perfect person doesn’t need your compassion – it’s the imperfect person you are right now who needs it.

Try: Use the affirmation ‘Today is my day for self compassion’ at least three times today.

My 15 lessons online course, True Friend, can help you to build a habit of self compassion.


Padraig O'Morain

I have practised mindfulness since the late 1980s, have taught mindfulness throughout Ireland and in London and have had books on mindfulness published in several countries and languages. I have demonstrated mindfulness on RTE, ITV and TV3 (now Virgin). I provide courses online. My latest book is "Acceptance - Create Change and Move Forward." My aim is to make mindfulness easily accessible to people in their everyday lives.