Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, we're going to talk about being on your own side. So most of us are much better friends to other people than we are to ourselves. We treat them with kindness and respect. We talk to them in a friendly way.

We're encouraging, sympathetic and supportive. We care for them, you know, when they're feeling down or they make a mistake and we cheer them on when they go for their goals. But what kind of friend are you to yourself? If you're like most people, you know, you're probably pretty tough on yourself. We are often really self critical and harsh instead of warm and kind. We're unforgiving and self-doubting rather than encouraging.

We put ourselves down. Tell ourselves when not enough. Point out all of our flaws and mistakes over and over again, and even call ourselves names when we make mistakes. We can really become sometimes our own worst enemy, really going to war with ourselves and creating in the process of that quite a lot of inner tension, really crushing our self-confidence and feeling a lot of turmoil. But I invite you to think about what it might be like to really be on your own side.

What would it feel like to be a friend to yourself? To speak to yourself mentally like you would speak to a dear friend, to encourage your good intentions, encourage your own dreams, be kind and compassionate to yourself when you're sad, hurt, or when you mess something up, to forgive yourself and nourish your body and mind out of a sense of care. Now, sometimes when I talk about this and people have a lot of resistance to the idea of being a friend to themselves and being on their own side because they kind of have this subtle thing in the background that's self-care means selfishness. You know, that it's really indulgent. But the reality is, is that being kind to yourself is good for everyone. When you're good to yourself, you're usually less stressed and upset, less agitated, and you're more present, calm, healthy, and mentally strong.

So my invitation for you for today is, if you care to, just seeing if you can be a little bit more on your own side. Take some steps to be more of a friend to yourself instead of a foe. As Pema Chodron once said, "Be kind to yourself and then let that kindness flood the world." We're going to focus a little bit more on this theme in today's meditation, so let's settle in for that. And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here in this community.