be gentle

I should be a gentle girl

“Generally…when we look closely at anything, our judgments go along with it. And this is particularly true of when we look closely at our selves.

“I remember very clearly when I was starting out on the path…one day raising my hand…and saying, ‘I don’t get it. The more I sit and get to know myself the more I hate myself, cuz I see all this stuff. So it doesn’t seem to me that it’s adding up to friendliness.’

“[But] part of this is seeing all this really clearly, that clearly, to the point of actually beginning to long for it to lift, to not want anymore to harm myself in that way…

So that a great longing could arise, a great yearning could arise, to no longer want to be imprisoned by my own habits. But along with that there had to be an enormous quality of compassion for myself.”

—Pema Chodron, “From Fear to Fearlessness”