cthewind's Blog

The one you’ll be with the most is you.

You have no real or permanent escape from your body, your breath, your thoughts. And it matters so very much how your treat your body, your breath, your thoughts.

You are the one you are with the most—more than any parent, partner, friend, or coworker.

Your body is your first home. It isn’t perfect, but it’s yours, and it’s beautiful. Tend your body and care for it. Your ability to care for any other body, for any other home, is intimately related to how you care for your own body.

Your breath is interconnected with life around you. The breath you take in comes from plants, and the breath you exhale will be absorbed by them. Breath—inspiration—is energy for living. Take time to breathe deeply, drawing life into the fullness of your being, expanding your chest and your ribs farther than you think they can go. Exhale fully, at least sometimes. Blow all of the breath out and don’t hold onto it. Your ability to continue living is directly related to your continuing breath.

Thoughts, too, are a kind of care. Your thoughts show your concern for yourself, for others, for the world. Speak kindly to yourself. Interrupt and redirect abusive talk. Think about what you loved at age 6, 7, or 8, and speak to that precious one, still part of you. You are worthy just by being alive. Your self-kindness will settle your mind and your body; you’ll be more at home here. And, more at home in yourself, you can help others find their way home to themselves also.

Kindness to self is not the same as indulgence or license. Rather, kindness grows from connection to the whole of self—integrity that understands weakness and accepts it as human instead of denying or fleeing. Kindness to yourself rightsizes you to your body and breath, helping you inhabit yourself, which, in turn, makes it possible to open yourself to others.