i am all about channeling the same good energy that we pour into others regularly into ourselves.  i think this is even more important for people like me who are either healers by profession or healers because that is the role they were born into (and fulfill in the lives of their loved ones).

with that being said, the actual definition of compassion always seemed like it was missing the mark in my opinion – “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”  why is the only concern about being sympathetic towards others and alleviating their stress?

when i saw this quote my friend jasmine posted, i had to steal it.

“if your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” -jack kornfield

when reading more about jack kornfield, i was pleasantly surprised that he is a buddhist practitioner and introduced buddhist mindfulness practices to the western world.  every buddhist i personally know comes from a collectivist culture where it is not uncommon to put the needs and feelings of others before the needs and feelings that they themselves are experiencing.  it made me happy to know of the work jack is doing to spread messages like the one above and that he has such a significant platform to do so.

the quote made me take a step back and acknowledge that i will not be able to do my job of being sympathetic and aware of the distress of my clients (with the end goal being to aid in alleviating that stress) if i am not channeling that same compassion inward.

compassion is incomplete without the ‘i’ – don’t forget that.

xoxo,

k. tap