Compassion for Your Younger Self
Updated: Oct 8
How often do you look back at a younger version of yourself,
with the awareness that you have now,
and wonder:
- How could I have done that?
- Why didn't I see that coming?
- Why did I stay so long?
- Why did I react that way?
- What was I thinking?
Instead of meeting that earlier version of ourselves with understanding,
we can be quick to judge, blame, or abandon ourselves.
But the version that you're being so hard on
hadn't yet lived the experiences
that taught you what you know now.
You only understood
what you were capable of understanding,
with the level of awareness you had,
at that moment in time.
You simply hadn't developed the capacity
to choose differently yet.
It’s all part of our journey as we grow through life.
And we deserve our own compassion every step of the way.
✨ Compassion is the understanding of the lack of understanding.
That doesn't mean we don't take responsibility
for the choices we've made.
It means we stop using what we know now
as a reason to condemn who we were then.
You can't fully love yourself
without having compassion
for the experiences that shaped you,
or for the choices you made within those experiences.
And you can’t fully love yourself
while abandoning the versions of you
who didn't yet know how to choose differently.
Compassion allows us to understand the part we’ve played
without withholding love from ourselves.
And it’s especially our own love and compassion
that create the space we need
so we can grow into a version
who can make different choices next time.
Self-Love invites you to have compassion for the younger version of yourself
who simply couldn’t understand then
what you understand now.
"Feeling compassion for ourselves... releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us
from responding to our life with clarity and balance." ~ Tara Brach
💗 Offer Yourself Compassion
I invite you to place a hand over your heart,
and think of a younger version of yourself that you’ve judged.
Then take a slow, deep inhale… followed by a long exhale.
As you breathe out, offer compassion to that version of yourself.
Try to understand that you weren’t fully capable of choosing differently.
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I hope you're learning to have compassion for your younger self.
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Let’s rise together ~ in Love & Light,
Jaime
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