Suffering Is Our Call To Attention, Our

Awakening Self-compassion Is Often The Greatest Challenge People Face On The Spiritual Path.

Feelings And Stories Of Unworthiness And Shame Are Perhaps The Most Binding Element In The Trance Of Fear. When We Believe Something Is Wrong With Us, We Are Convinced We Are In Danger. Our Shame Fuels Ongoing Fear, And Our Fear Fuels More Shame. The Very Fact That We Feel Fear Seems To Prove That We Are Broken Or Incapable. When We Are Trapped In Trance, Being Fearful And Bad Seem To Define Who We Are. The Anxiety In Our Body, The Stories, The Ways We Make Excuses, Withdraw Or Lash Out—these Become To Us The Self That Is Most Real.

By Regarding Ourselves With Kindness, We Begin To Dissolve The Identity Of An Isolated, Deficient Self. This Creates The Grounds For Including Others In An Unconditionally Loving Heart.

Learning To Pause Is The First Step In The Practice Of Radical Acceptance. A Pause Is A Suspension Of Activity, A Time Of Temporary Disengagement When We Are No Longer Moving Toward Any Goal ... The Pause Can Occur In The Midst Of Almost Any Activity And Can Last For An Instant, For Hours Or For Seasons Of Our Life ... You Might Try It Now: Stop Reading And Sit There, Doing 'no Thing,' And Simply Notice What You Are Experiencing.

There Are Stories We Take On From Our Culture, And There Are Stories Based On Our Own Personal History. Some Of Those Stories Lock Us In Limiting Beliefs And Lead To Suffering, And There Are Others That Can Move Us Toward Freedom.