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You can’t connect with the compassionate part of your mind, can you? That's because it requires willingness, believe it or not. You’ve tried before. But the one thing that has been consistent from all your past efforts has been your inconsistency in application and inability to stay focused. You get distracted. Actually, you become fearful and rationalize this fear by saying you’re just too busy.
But connecting is simple. It is however, not easy. It requires conscious and consistent effort. But, the one thing your Ego wants you to believe is that it is impossible. It wants you to believe that, maybe others can achieve this, but you do not have what it takes. It also wants you to believe that if you are to wake up, you’ll need to suffer first. You’ll have to go through something akin to a nervous breakdown.
I want to tell you that none of this is true. You can connect to the compassionate part of your mind and it is simple. It can even become a lot easier once you understand the roadblocks and typical mistakes we make. This is the important thing – understanding your resistance. If you get this, your progress will be increased immeasurably.
Your success will be guaranteed and inevitable. In truth, it already is. But you can speed thing along and save yourself so much unnecessary suffering.
This article is not abstract however. You’ve heard plenty of abstractions about waking up and none of them have really helped.
This article will give you a step by step guide. Here’s the first thing you need to do…
Place connecting with this part of yourself as your top priority. What this means is that you now have only one priority in life. You will start and end your day (at least seeking, if not always finding) self compassion. Give 2 minutes at the start of your day to this. Give 2 minutes at the end of your day to this. Can you do this? If so, you will be successful. Your time commitment to this need only be little. It, in fact, needs to seem trivial. Otherwise, your resistance will be too great.
Watch as the relationship with yourself develops naturally. Your time spend on this is framed as trivial. However, once you give this little time, you will naturally and without strain start to give more. This is because you will start to feel closer to yourself. You will feel a connection that may now be entirely absent. You will see that your life begins to make sense. This is attractive. The sane part of your Mind wants this. You will always need to consciously choose this, but this decision will become more of a habit or instinct than an effort.
Congratulate yourself for this little willingness. The 4 minutes you give to this is all you need to focus on. Some days your resistance will be so great, 4 minutes is all you’ll feel capable of giving. Instead of judging yourself for this, it is vital that you congratulate yourself each time you choose to practice. Think of your ‘to do’ list for the day as complete if completing this is all you have accomplished. The other worldly things will take care of themselves once you do this one thing.
During this time, ask for help. The 4 minutes should involve asking for help in seeing things (the world, yourself) differently. It is best to spend these minutes listening to silence. This is the voice of compassion. From here, all answers emanate.
That’s it! Do not over-complicate things. Just focus on these easy steps. By following them, you can remind yourself at every moment of your day that you have chosen compassion to be a part of your life. The inner strength that comes from this choice is indescribable.
So, am I totally compassionate? The answer is that I still have a lot of work to do. But I have learned so much from my own resistance that I now feel more optimistic about how my relationship with myself is developing. Keep things simple and don’t allow yourself to get distracted. Loving yourself really is simple.