Practice is so kind!

On Wednesday, April 18, Sangha celebrated International Day of No Self-Hate.

That day, when I noticed judging, hateful voices arise, I would turn on my recorder and say what was true in that moment. I would redirect my attention to the breath, sensations in the body, sounds or sights around me, and gratitude to be in THISHERENOW.

When I dropped the voices in this way, I popped right back into kindness and presence, available and open. 

It was such a good practice to be here for me. I was curious to try it again. Thus, as an experiment this year, I am choosing every Wednesday as a “Day of No Self-Hate.”

What I have been noticing is that the voices have been very quiet, keeping a low profile and sometimes even silent. When I have one day to focus like this on no self-hate, I feel like a sleuth on the lookout for it. I show up, am curious, aware, and am even playful about it.

I have noticed that self-hate can slide in when I am tired or hungry so I am also paying more attention to what conditions I need to support my physical well being. Last Wednesday, I hardly heard a peep from self-hate and almost got bamboozled into thinking I had missed something. Then it dropped in to make a recording about that, too. I saw that self-hate simply does not hold up under the scrutiny of Awareness Practice and it certainly disappears when confronted by Recording and Listening and the Mentor.

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