When we acknowledge our weaknesses, there’s often an implied sense of judgment, as if we should never make any mistakes. The alternative is to accept that everyone makes mistakes and then focus on what we can do differently going forward.
Instead of letting past disappointments paralyse your actions, choose a moment of strength and empowerment to motivate you to do something now.
At any moment you can let go of the weight of who you used to be and allow yourself a better chance of becoming who you want to be.
When we feel like reacting negatively to someone, they are helping to bring out what we haven’t healed in ourselves. How can there be blame and anger towards those that bring up our shadows? Instead, we could replace our resentment with compassion for ourselves and those who hurt us.
We all have invisible wounds and we’ll do anything to avoid them being touched. If someone else accidentally touches our wounds, we act as if they caused them. But, they didn’t cause them, and they cannot heal them. They are our wounds and we have the power to heal them.
It takes strength and courage to take a step back and remind ourselves: Other people’s reactions are not about us, they are about them.
Sympathy is about feeling for someone: seeing their distress and realising that they are suffering. Compassion means to act on this, to ease their suffering. Empathy is about experiencing those feelings for yourself, as if you were that person, through the power of imagination.
We can increase our own level of empathy by getting out of our own head and actively imagining what someone else might be experiencing.
Being mindfully aware of your surroundings, especially the behaviours and expressions of other people, is crucial for empathy. Practicing mindfulness in this way helps us take the perspectives of other people yet not feel overwhelmed when we encounter their negative emotions.
If you accept the present moment, you can let go of resistance. If you let yourself cry it out, you can let go of sadness. These things can help you find more peace.