A deep dive into the practice of Self-Love and Compassion

I write this brief reflexion intending to help those of us who at the present moment or in the past have developed maladaptive patterns, while trying to cope with harsh reality.

This text is intended for everybody.

Self-love is a hard journey, it requieres from us truth, humility and a great deal of courage. We have to be willing to confront our own confusion, ignorance and fears. As humans we are born with or develop over the years a tendency of trying to defend ourselves against the world and against people (some of us would call it malice), which most of the times gets the best of, making living with ourselves and among others specially hard. Some of our worst behaviors stem from this tendency and deep down we know it. People-pleasing, perfectionism, obsessive-complusive patterns, impulsivity, evasive or avoidant behaviors, escapism, narcissism, or simply being extremely hesitant to the point of mentally-collapsing and blocking our own feelings and emotions are some of the most common and well-known examples of ill-behaviors we adopt trying to adapt or survive in this world.

Lesson number one: own them. If we do not accept our own flaws and misunderstandings, we become the victim of our own mind and feelings. If we keep repeating over and over the same experiences and get the same unsatisfactory or even harmful results, we have to start questioning our believes and general understanding of the world: our own Ethos.

JVB