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Love your Neighbour?
More on the topic of being kind to myself.
This links to something another of my friends said on her blog recently - whilst talking about it, she set me thinking hard as she frequently does…
She mentions critical self-thought and her 'internal bully'. I'm particularly bad at that - being cruel to myself - some of the things I 'say' to myself when I've made a mistake, or done something wrong, are very unpleasant. If I said them to anyone else, they'd be most upset - and rightly so.
So why is it okay to do that to myself?
The answer, probably, is that it isn't. And it struck me that if I took one of the commandments literally, I'd be in big trouble.
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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 neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31
Be Kind to Yourself
Life has been a bit rough over the past couple of years, particularly so in recent months… Just when I'd begun to think it couldn't get any tougher, and that I 'deserved' a break, things got worse! I've been really struggling. My good friend Ruth has said, a few times, 'Be kind to yourself.' I couldn't, really, because I hadn't the foggiest what she was on about! So, a couple of days ago, a conversation, via SMS, ensued.
Ruth: Just be kind to yourself and don't overdo it.
Phil: Thank you. I'm never sure what being kind to myself means, but I'll try.
Ruth: I think being kind to yourself is allowing yourself to rest and not having to do everything.
This morning, after my swim, I ought to have been cleaning bathrooms, sorting washing, etc. But instead, because it was a nice, sunny, morning (the second in two days), I decided to 'be kind to myself' and not do chores, but instead to take myself out and relax in the sun. We're very fortunate, living here, because it's almost no distance to open fields and lovely scenery. So I grabbed my camera bag, my keys, my phone and set off.
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