In meditation, we often practice separating our viewpoint from our thoughts and emotions. This compassion practice can help. The goal of meditation could be phrased: to see the emotional-self or the thinking-self and feel compassion. For today, we’ll practice compassion for the emotional-self, strengthening our capacity for observing, without judgement, the natural ups and downs of feeling:
I practice compassion for my emotional-self
With compassion, I free my emotional-self from suffering
With compassion, I help him find peace and feel safe in this world
With compassion, I create contentment in his life
With compassion, I inspire him to flourish
With patience and good humour, I welcome my emotional-self’s imperfections
With sympathy, I feel for his suffering
With empathy, I mind what he’s feeling and try to understand why
For my emotional-self, I seek wisdom
I nurture a broad perspective of him
I foster gratefulness for him
And I acknowledge that suffering and difficulties are part of his life
This practice is deeply internal and self-referential, which can feel a bit weird. But the mind is constantly examining the self, so it’s important to consider how we react to the never-ending self-regulating analysis the mind is naturally committed to. Most importantly, we must respond compassionately, seeking to witness resistance, judgement and criticism from ourselves towards ourselves, and replace those habits with compassion. Thank you for practicing with me.
Photo by Shiyu Zhang
