We can spend a lifetime chasing after pleasure and trying to get away from pain, never staying present with the underlying feeling of discontent.
We try to hold on to fleeting pleasures and avoid discomfort in a world where everything is always changing.
You build inner strength through embracing the totality of your experience, both the delightful parts and the difficult parts. Embracing the totality of your experience is one definition of having loving-kindness for yourself.
This does not mean making sure you're feeling good all the time - trying to set up your life so that you're comfortable every moment. Rather, it means setting up your life so that you have time for meditation and self-reflection, for kindhearted, compassionate self-honesty.
Pema Chodron
Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change
Mattea
Massage Day, it is my favorite day of the week
