Along With Judging Myself Harshly,

We're So Used To Presenting Ourselves And Getting Approval According To Our Achievements That It's Difficult To Be Authentic And Trust That We'll Be Accepted Just As We Are.

Take Moments To Savor What Is Beautiful And Good.

I Might Find That I Have A Habit Of Being Jealous And Comparing Myself With Other People And Riveting My Attention On How Much Somebody Else Is Accomplishing Or Doing, Or How Much Better They Are At Such And Such. First, I Might Recognize The Story - The Mental Images And Internal Dialogue - And Say, "okay, Comparing Mind." Then, Rather Than Staying Caught In The Content, I'll Bring My Attention Into My Body And Open To The Immediate Feelings That Are There.

It's The Beginning Of Opening To Love. Even If There's Not Much Feeling Of Compassion Toward Oneself, Just Say, "it's Okay, Sweetheart," Or "i'm Sorry And I Love You."

When Desire For A Certain Person's Attention Becomes An "i Have To Have" Kind Of Grasping, Then Identity Gets Organized Around Needing That And It Becomes Very Solid And Sticky. That Causes Suffering Because We're Not Inhabiting The Fullness Of Who We Are, We're Fixated And Contracted On Life Being A Certain Way.