Self-Compassion

I am deep into the 3rd week of my on-line journaling class.  Wow, have I been challenged on many levels with looking deep into my behaviors, my history and my patterns.

This week we were tasked to find a picture of ourselves where we were "not doing well" and think of the things we wished we had said to "that person."  I really struggled to find a picture.  I found two pictures.  One when I was 18 months old.  I was surprised to see so much fear, shyness and unhappiness in my face and in my eyes as a young child.  Then I found another picture, of me as an adult, where I was looking over my shoulder.  Literally you could see the fear, question and an unsafe sense about me. 

When I answered the journaling question, "what would I say to myself back then," I said things like:

*Don't be afraid.
*You don't have to run away.
*God created you - beautiful (Ecclesiastes 13:11)
*Its OK to want to be protected.

My journaling activities have now settled down from my head to my heart.  Kristin Neff a professor from The University of Texas has created a self-compassion scale.  Self-Compassion.org.  I took the survey today and found that my self-compassion is pretty good.  But what I discovered about Christ centered-Self-compassion truly surprised me.

I've adapted Dr. Neff's three elements of self-compassion and had my eyes widened to the wisdom and value of God's word:

1.  Self-kindness:  God knew and implanted value in human beings when he said they were very good.  He designed us in His own image, to be completely LOVED by Him and then to share that LOVE with one another.
Christ says in three gospels:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.  Mark 12:30-31

2.   Common Humanity:  God knows that we are all struggling in this broken planet with hope of one day being rescued and restored.  "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.  Romans 18:18-25"

3.  Mindfulness:  Paul one of Christ's preachers wrote about bringing the mind into captivity.  He warned of the danger of allowing our thoughts to run in every direction.  "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  2 Corinthians 10:5

In my attempt to Live Christ's Compassion through me - I am choosing to assume the best not the worst of a situation and to believe that with God's strength and peace I can withstand when the worst comes!