Compassion in CoronaTimes

On a good day during Corona Times, we have clean clothes to wear--in laundry baskets; toys to play with--pieces missing and covered in something sticky; food to eat--while standing over the sink filled with dirty dishes; and people to talk to--saying the same six things to the same people all day. If you’re lucky, they’ll answer you with something--other than “No.”

This is reality for some families now and, depending on your perspective, it can be a source of gratitude or a source of existential dread. Or it can be both. In this world, it is a privilege to experience life this way. And it being a privilege doesn’t mean these are not problems in need of support. When we acknowledge we are suffering and then reach out for help, we can be more available to help those around us. One thing that can help us is to become acquainted (or reacquainted) with the tools of self-compassion.

The people around us often learn more about us by observing what we do and how we react more than the words they hear us say. And we learn the same about others. Since we are human, that’s just part of how our social brains work. Change begins with awareness. When we learn what sets us off, what motivates us to do things we don’t really want to do and how we communicate under stress in ways that aren't filled with judgement, we have taken the first steps in rewiring our brains to be more compassionate towards ourselves. Pair these steps with the awareness that we are not alone in these struggles and we begin to reap the benefits of self compassion.

This is not easy. It’s sometimes easier to skip on past this work and keep going the way we have been. It’s an ongoing process of learning and unlearning. And life gives us more than enough opportunities to practice.

Here’s an invitation to practice right now. Try putting your hand on your heart or your back or belly. Now read these words out loud (or to yourself) as many times as you’d like:

I am enough. I am loved. I am worthy of compassion.

And so we are.