Flo

Tonight, I’m obsessing about “the things I hang onto.”  Unfortunately, it’s not the positive things that roll around in my head and I wonder about all of us.  How much do our negative thoughts impact our happiness?

The answer to that question is obvious. It is difficult to think about what level of happiness we feel when we are faced with challenge after challenge (after challenge) and we just can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I’m not sure where I’m going with this except to say that it’s so important to acknowledge the emotions you do feel, even the painful ones.  None of us are pain free.  It’s the holding, the avoiding acknowledging our feelings that creates so much pain, confusion and despair.  We’re often taught to “suck it up”, “hold it in, don’t express it”, and “only baby’s cry”.  I guess those are ways of coping with emotions, I just don’t feel they are the best or most compassionate ways to treat ourselves.

So, would you act different, be different if you were looking at how to compassionately treat yourself?  It puts an entirely different twist on how I treat me.  I think it’s easy to get caught up in treating others with compassion and somehow forget about ourselves in the picture.  The truth is, if we start inside first, it’s a whole lot easier to be kind, caring and compassionate to others.