Love thy neighbor?

Love thy neighbor?

RuPaul knows what’s up. Having compassion for others is [checks notes], yeah, pretty hard when we don’t have compassion for ourselves. As the other saying goes: You can’t pour from an empty cup. To take it back to basics for a sec, compassion is when we have an awareness of another’s suffering and an urge to alleviate it; it’s a desire to make things better. Turning the lens of compassion on ourselves means first: noticing when we’re beating ourselves up and spiraling into harshly critical self-talk; and second: treating ourselves with kindness and understanding instead. 

It isn’t always easy feels virtually impossible to be as gentle with ourselves as we would a close friend, but it pays off. War veterans who are more self-compassionate have less PTSD, people with depression who learn to accept their faults have fewer symptoms, and self-compassionate teens are less stressed. Practicing kindness as an inside job also makes it easier to extend grace to others — it’s like strengthening a muscle. 

If you’re curious where you land on the self-compassion scale, this test is useful for understanding which thought patterns and behaviors are and are not your friend. (Pro tip: You can get your results without entering any data.) 

Hope your Sunday is more emerging from chrysalis than stuck in the goo.  

P.S. If you’re curious what the collective noun for butterflies is, it’s kaleidoscope. How ‘bout that.