Contemplative Monday

The following quote/lesson by Pema Chodron was so helpful to me the past couple of days. With the stress my family is feeling over the care of our father, I gained some perspective from this lesson.


TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES

"I've known many people who have spent years exercising daily, 

getting massages, doing yoga, faithfully following one food or

vitamin regimen after another,

pursuing spiritual teachers and different styles of meditation,

all in the name of taking care of themselves. 

Then something bad happens to them and all those years don't seem 

to have added up to the inner strength and kindness for themselves

that they need to relate with what's happening. And they don't add up 

to being able to help other people or the environment.

When taking care of ourselves is all about me, it never gets at the 

unshakable tenderness and confidence that we'll need when everything falls apart.

When we start to develop maitri for ourselves, unconditional acceptance

of ourselves, then we're really taking care of ourselves in a way that

pays off.

                      

We feel more at home with our own bodies and minds and more

at home in the world. As our kindness for ourselves grows, so does our

 kindness for other people."

                                  

The above quote was taken from Heart Advice: Weekly Quotes by Pema Chodron.