The ‘Little Drop Of Kindness’ process takes advantage of our natural ability to feel compassionate towards other beings and applies it to ourselves.
Many people have trouble feeling as kind to themselves as they do to others.
This process lets you feel compassionate acceptance for yourself and is a gentle emotional tonic, especially if you are having a hard time.
The process lets you feel the benefits of the compassion that you give to others.
To do this remember a time when you felt compassionate acceptance for another being. That being may be a person, friend, relative, child, partner, even someone you have seen on TV. It can also be the feeling you have to a pet or other animal.
It doesn’t have to be a dramatic example of selfless devotion - you don’t need to be Mother Theresa or the Dalai Lama to get results from this process.
For example one of the memories I use to conjure up compassionate acceptance is an incident with our dog Sally an energetic Patterdale Terrier.
Very occasionally she has a mild epileptic fit. Once, I was taking her for a walk when she had such a fit fit. She was unable to move, twitching, ears back and obviously not enjoying herself.
There is nothing you can do at such times but to crouch down, stroke and reassure her that everything is going to be OK and wait until the fit has passed. Then, with a wobble or two, she gets back to her old self, none the worse for wear. When I remember this particular incident I put myself back where it happened and easily access those compassionate feelings again.
Try out a few of your memories to see which ones let you easily access the feeling of compassionate acceptance.
Instructions
- Find a comfortable space where you won’t be interrupted for five or ten minutes.
- Sit comfortably with both feet on the ground
- Remember a time when you experienced a sense of compassionate acceptance. It could have been for a friend, relative, child even a pet or other animal. All you need is a sense of that compassionate acceptance when you remember that time.
- Sink into the memory, see what you are seeing, hear what you are hearing and feel that sense of compassionate acceptance develop and grow in you.
- When the feeling is strong, turn one of your palms face up and allow that feeling of compassionate acceptance to flow down your arm and to ‘pool’ in the palm of your hand.
- If this feeling had a colour what would it be?
- Allow this pool of feeling to grow and form a bubble of compassionate acceptance in your hand. Notice any sounds that go with this and the sensations of the bubble that you are holding now.
- Allow that bubble to grow and gently lift off your hand, floating up to come to rest just above the crown of your head.
- Now allow that bubble to drop gently down until it completely encloses and surrounds you in its compassionate acceptance.
- Allow that feeling to flow into your entire being, flowing through your blood stream, rippling through your nerves, soaking into every cell in your body.
- Bathe for a little while in compassionate acceptance and notice how good it feels.
- If any resistance or untoward thoughts arise, allow them also to bathe in compassionate acceptance.
- When you are ready, you can draw the compassionate acceptance into yourself or go about the rest of your day within your bubble. No one else will see it but you will feel the benefit.
Use this process as often as you like and let me know how it goes.
Tip: One of the sure signs of needing to have some compassionate acceptance is if you feel you don’t deserve it.
