Find Your Middle Ground

Tag: self compassion

  • Common Humanity

    “Do you suffer sometimes, want to be happy, but don’t always know how to make that happen? Congratulations! You’ve just discovered you have something in common with every other person across the world and across history.” * And with this realization we know we are not alone. We are all human beings, experiencing what we…

  • Bring it Home

    Put your hands on your heart and say to yourself, “May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you be safe. May you be loved.” …. Repeat four times.*   So often we give to others and tend to them, and also dismiss kindness towards ourselves. Its time to build your capacity to bring…

  • Be Gentle with Yourself

    For today and every day. “Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself. You may not be perfect, but you are all you’ve got to work with. The process of becoming who you will be, begins first with the total acceptance of who you are.” ~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana It only takes ten minutes to…

  • Listen to the Message of Emotions

    Wisdom from Tara Brach for these difficult times. May we listen to our hearts and to our children. 🙏 “I’ve had many waves of anger, fear, and aversion in reaction to the harm being perpetrated in our society. In my own practice, it helps to keep starting right where I am, not judging my own…

  • Accepting Who You Are

    I love this exercise from Steve Flowers and Bob Stahl in “Living with Your Heart Wide Open”. This is a book I’d also recommend for those of you who would like to cultivate more mindfulness and compassion in your lives, while freeing yourselves from unworthiness, inadequacy and shame. “Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself.…

  • For Teachers, Mentors, Parents and Guides

    For Teachers, Mentors, Parents and Guides

    Last week before class one of my students said how much she  enjoyed my  blog – not just for the guidance, but to show her that I wasn’t perfect. We laughed 😊 Then she asked “So I have my Val, who is your Val to support you?” Thank you R for caring. It made me…

  • * Want to Let Go More?

    Some very successful and accomplished people will sometimes ask me – How can I let go more? What do I need to do to be more relaxed? How can I be less impatient? What can I do to be more flexible?…My answer for each question is usually the same, whether it’s at work, in life…

  • * Love After Love

    These words fill me up with love and gratitude. It’s my pleasure to pass on the goodness from Derek Walcott 💛 “The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the others welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will…

  • * Inspiration – People are our Teachers

      “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”    ~ Pema Chodron I was with a group of caring yoga teachers yesterday, and we shared experiences of who showed up in our classes. There was one student who always gave an unsolicited evaluation…

  • * Having Compassion for Ourselves

    “Self-compassion is a way of relating to the ever-changing landscape of who we are with kindness and acceptance—especially when we fail or feel inadequate … Self-compassion requires acknowledging that we share the human condition of imperfection.”   ~ Kristen Neff How many of us learned about this when we were young? … How many of us…

  • * Silence your Inner Critic by Saying Yes

    ” Say yes to everything. Reject nothing, least of all something in yourself.” ~ Swami Prajnanpad Say yes to yourself every day. Acknowledge what you are feeling and what is happening in a neutral way. “Yes, I’m nervous.” “Yes, I am struggling.” “Yes, there is fear.” “Yes, I am being defensive.” “Yes, I notice resistance.…

  • * Inspiration – conflict

    “We feel conflict. The conflict we feel is not a problem. It is a messenger. We do not need help; we need only understand that there is no choice in life but to follow the conflict where it takes us. If we are prepared to go there, we may discover the actuality of self and…

  • * There Are No Perfect Human Beings

    Originally posted on Find Your Middle Ground: It’s time to give up the illusion of being perfect and accept our human nature. “There are no perfect human beings! Persons can be found who are good, very good indeed, in fact, great. There do in fact exist creators, seers, sages, saints, shakers, and movers…even if they…

  • Taking Care

    So many of us spend our time taking care of others. Our relationships have become ones of giving and supporting those closest to us. And then we forget how to take care of ourselves. When we think of taking care of ourselves, the inner critic tells us it is selfish and self indulgent to put…

  • * Greeting Card Words

    “We can talk about courage and love and compassion until we sound like a greeting card store, but unless we’re willing to have an honest conversation about what gets in the way of putting these into practice in our daily lives, we will never change.” ~ Bréne Brown This made me pause. There are so…

  • * Being There For Yourself

    This post is inspired by one earlier (Being There is Enough) where the focus was on being there for someone else. Now it is your turn. xo Sometimes all we can do is to be there for our selves… Being present to our inner state, without judgment or temptation to fix. Setting aside our urge…