Along with judging myself harshly, I'd also always seen the truth of goodness in me.

We are continually experiencing the conditioning to hold on, tighten, or resist.

As we free ourselves from the suffering of 'something is wrong with me, 'we trust and express the fullness of who we are.'

The two wings of mindfulness and kindness will begin to open the heart to more connection with our world.

If you can, do a gratitude practice: Each day write down three things you're grateful for. There are different ways to do this. You can have a gratitude buddy, someone with whom, at the end of the day, you exchange messages listing these three things you are grateful for. Also, you can journal it or reflect on it silently.

Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.

I registered the dukkha of self-aversion with such clarity that I knew there was no freedom unless I could love this life without holding back. This didn't mean I was going to ignore my flaws and stop seeking to improve what I could. But in the deepest way, I was not going to fixate on the conclusion that something was wrong with me.