I open my meditation workshops with a quote from Kim McMillan’s inspirational little book, When I Loved Myself Enough. The quote is “When I loved myself enough, I began to practice daily meditation. Daily meditation is an act of profound self-compassion.”
Why is the act of sitting in silence for a few minutes each day, a self-compassionate act? Here are some of the reasons it is for me.
1. I take time for myself in an intimate and precious way. As I sink into my practice, I let the outside go. This is my time. It belongs to my soul and me.
2. I give myself the gift of calming and clarity, the opportunity to see the world and myself in a kinder, more gentle and less judgmental way.
3. When I meditate, I honor all of me, the body that needs to relax and the mind that needs to rest. I create a silent space for my Inner Self, the doorway to my creativity, my intuition, my peace.
4. I give myself a gift that I can give to the world. I raise my own vibration to help raise the energy of all life. I become the butterfly who flaps her wings in the Amazon.
5. I begin to see the impermanence of things. Everything changes in every millisecond. My next breath is not the same as the last. Things come; things go. The question then, what remains?
6. I loosen my grip on my need to attach, to control. I learn to become more courageous, more present, letting go of outcomes.
7. I become more honest with myself as I witness my thoughts rather than becoming them. My reactions improve as I learn to observe rather than go into fight or flight mode.
8. Perhaps the best part is that I learn to take the lessons and the gifts of my sitting practice with me off the seat, and out into the world.
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