Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about the most fundamental aggression to ourselves. Now, this comes from a quote by the great meditation teacher, Pema Chodron, where she says, "The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently." Let me say that one again, because in some ways it, it can come across as provocative, but there's a lot here. So really see how this lands for you. The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves, honestly and gently.

So notice what that brings up for you. And this is a pretty strong statement, saying that the, the most fundamental harm we can create is not having an honest conversation with ourselves, not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly, but also gently. I think what I like about this is that it's the embodiment of, of wisdom, but also fierce compassion. Her word choice here is very specific. The courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.

I think sometimes when we're talking about self-care and self-love, it can remain on the, how could we say that, the more fluffy level. You should just say nice things to yourself. Pamper yourself. Be good to yourself. It's not your fault.

And yeah, there's, there's some utility to that and it can feel good, but that's not necessarily having an honest conversation with yourself. It's not looking at yourself with the kind of respect that says, yeah, you may have made a mistake here, but I know you can do better. And where are we tripping up? What can we improve? Where can we maybe have a more positive influence in our life? Where can we take care of people in a better way? Where can we maybe not get so caught up in our own egos or our own selfish, selfish, motivations? All of that requires having a respect for yourself and courage to look at yourself honestly and gently. So it doesn't have to be this sterile analysis where you put yourself on the witness stand and look at everything and drill into everything that's wrong. No, it's just looking at ourselves very honestly, but also gently, with reverence and respect for the complexity of being human.

But as Pema Chodron says, not doing this is the most fundamental aggression to ourselves. And I believe what she means by that is that the absence of this honest looking is the thing that keeps us in our patterns. It keeps us in our thought processes, our emotions, our habits that are often destructive and causing more harm for ourselves and for others. And the only way to have a positive impact in our life is to meet ourselves honestly, to meet the truth of what is here. That is how we wake up.

And that is how we transform. So I hope this gives you something to consider. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.