Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. - Christopher K. Germer

In the words of meditation teacher Pema Chödrön: “… we can still be crazy after all these years. We can still be angry after all these years. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of unworthiness. The point is … not to try to throw ourselves away and become something better. It’s about befriending who we are already.” It

should arise during mindfulness practice, please don’t feel the need to push through it. Timing and safety are critical. Many people with childhood

Self-compassion has the “gleam of the particulars,” as poet Naomi Shahib Nye might say. The details of our lives are necessary to contact the deeper meaning of our daily experience.