Hi, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session we're

going to talk about the subtle

aggression of self-improvement.

I'd like to start by sharing

a poem by Bob Sharples.

He says:

Don't meditate to fix yourself, to

improve yourself, to redeem yourself;

rather do it as an act of love, a

deep, warm friendship to yourself.

In this way there is no longer any

need for the subtle aggression of

self-improvement, for the endless

guilt of not doing enough...

it offers a possibility of an end to the

ceaseless round of trying so hard that

wraps so many people's lives in a knot.

Instead, there is now meditation

as an act of love, how endlessly

delightful and encouraging.

So notice how that poem feels to you.

For me, there's something

very resonant in it.

I've often seen my meditation

practice as a subtle aggression of

self-improvement as Bob puts it.

This feeling of needing to

do this in order to become

a better version of myself.

But anytime that I can step out of

that intention and instead make the

intention an active love, of caring

for myself, of appreciating myself, of

showing up for myself in the best way

that I can in this moment with all of

my foibles and all of my wonder, then

the meditation practice transforms.

It becomes easier.

It feels more impactful.

And that quality of peace that I'm

often after by trying to improve

comes when I let go of not trying to

become some better version of myself.

So I offer that invitation to you as well.

It's very common in our culture to be

caught up in that subtle aggression

of self-improvement, constantly

needing to grow and to be better.

Maybe there's a place for that in

different areas of your life, but at least

in your meditation practice, let that

be a space where you let some of that

go and instead make it an act of love.

Thank you for your practice.

I'll talk to you in the meditation.

Take care.