Community for Deepening Practice

Befriend Yourself

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6 Days of Compassionate Inquiry

Intention:

Increase the frequency with which you include yourself in the circle of compassion.

Materials:

  • Your journal
  • Some paper (a journal and/or unlined paper if you also would like to experiment with drawing)
  • Markers, pens, crayons

Process:

Please get comfortable and begin to settle, touching in with your breath. With loving curiosity (and even a sense of playfulness if you can!), we invite you to pose the day’s question and rest in silence for responses to emerge before journaling.

On Day 1, ask:
What are you feeling right now?
Tell me about your perfect day.

On Day 2, ask:
What are you feeling right now?
What bothers you most?

On Day 3, ask:
What are you feeling right now?
What would you like to hear from me?

On Day 4, ask:
What are you feeling right now?
Why are you here?

On Day 5, ask:
What are you feeling right now?
How can I take better care of you?

  • Write your responses in your journal. Try if you can to notice what emerges after your initial response, knowing that some things need a little more time to percolate past resistance before becoming clear.
  • If you noticed there were no answers to your questions, then draw what came up for you in the absence of these. This may be the first time you asked yourself questions like these, so know that all responses (or lack of) are OK.
  • On Day 6, revisit your writings. Open your heart and allow the words and images to yourself to melt in, if you can. Do you notice any themes or patterns? Underline them. Any surprises? Make a note about those insights in your journal.
  • Given what you know after 5 days of compassionate inquiry, what do you want to say to yourself? Is there a vow you’d like to make to help you include yourself more often in the circle of compassion? Even if this is just one thing.
  • If you wish to express this as a drawing, get a fresh piece of paper and draw what arises with your *non-dominant hand.
  • Hang this final image somewhere you can see it for a gentle reminder of how you wish to include your precious self in the circle of compassion.

 

* Working in the non-dominant hand can help us bypass our self-critical voice and enter into a space of more ease-ful expression, where process becomes the priority, not the outcome of our drawing or writing. In a practical sense, the increased concentration it requires can also help us ground and slow down when our minds or bodies feel unsettled. 


This exercise was co-created by Aimee Eckhardt and Bal De Buitléar and adapted from Heather Williams’ Drawing as a Sacred Activity

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