Boy, am I wonderful!

How much do I love me? Let me count the ways.

Ok, sounds kind of funny I know. But in Bhante Sujatha’s guided meditation CD, it’s one of the first things he guides you to do. To love yourself. He says, if you don’t love yourself first, how can you have love for others. Well, that certainly makes sense!

But what I have come to see through meditation, is that perhaps I do not truly love myself. Or at least not love myself enough. I have to be able to look at myself honestly and without judgment. I need to have compassion for myself. Bhante says that loving kindness comes easy for some, but for many, much work needs to be done. I can tell you that when I first heard that, I believed I was one to whom it came easily. But just recently, I came to see that I was one of those who has much work to be done.

See my attachments to what I see as the self, are very powerful. A lifetime with a lack of mindfulness or awareness, have created quite the illusion of myself. But I know I can view this with loving kindness towards my self. I can forgive myself.

Today is not the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day of my life.

Namo Buddha, and Namo Bhante Sujatha for sharing the Buddha’s teachings and for your abundant love for the World.

Namaste