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Hi everyone!

Today I had a good experience with a loving kindness meditation that I wanted to share.

I’ve struggled with self-love my whole life. In recent years, I’ve made some headway… It felt like I had the right pieces of the puzzle but they didn’t quite fit into place. The puzzle pieces being healthy boundaries, self-compassion and developing confidence. I was acting towards myself in a loving way, but I didn’t feel it.

With this meditation I practiced sustaining feelings of loving kindness towards others. I hoped that one day I would be able to turn that love towards myself. Today I realized that was true and the story that I don’t love myself, is just that… A story. One that I can finally put down.

Hi Roberta!

Thank you for your kind comment. My apologies for the delayed reply. I was very unwell and not in the most positive frame of mind. Thankfully, I’m starting to feel better now.

I agree, I’ve found that my empathy for others is growing with the practice. It also taught me to how to be happy, to step back from my thoughts and feelings when I need to, and helped me to redirect my thoughts.

Meditation has been a difficult skill for me to learn. But it’s a gift that keeps on giving. I look forward to what I learn next.

I’m glad that I found the answers that I was looking for that unfortunately psychology alone couldn’t provide. Gratitude practice has been very helpful in the process of learning to be happy too.

My new journey is realising that diet and stomach issues have a large role in my anxiety. I’m going to have to be patient with myself and this process.

Wishing you all the best! 🙏

Oops it’s getting late. I forgot to add, wishing you a Happy Easter if you celebrate it. 🐣🌷🐰

Hi Tee!

You read my mind. I was just wondering how your health was. I’m sorry to hear that you are still experiencing back pain, but I’m glad that you are getting better at managing it. Well done on conquering your health anxiety and good luck with figuring out the psychological impacts on your health.

I’ve also dealt with my own health anxiety in the past. It is quite scary getting to grips with these things. With my own health I’ve learned that there are a ton of different factors that influence pain sensitivity. I found it affirming to learn that very physical physiological changes occur in the body due to stress. The mind body connection is very unique! It doesn’t help that stress is an inherent part of life. It would be nice to just magic away sometimes. Unfortunately, there is only so much we have control over.

Wishing you all the best! 🙏

Hi Tee

As someone who also has habits of catastrophising, I know how difficult it can be at times to catch yourself in that moment and calm down. That’s really amazing that you’re able to do that. It’s good to hear that you don’t feel helpless with your pain anymore. It is a horrible feeling to have, I have been there too in the past. You’re a very intelligent, resilient and resourceful person Tee, you should be very proud of yourself for figuring these things out!

The pregnancy made my health issues worse and caused some backsliding with my mental health and emotional regulation. I’m trying to get back into the relaxation techniques which I found to be very helpful in the past. And I’m learning how to better manage my posture. Picking up a heavy child with really bad posture is an easy way to get injured. I also learned that the pelvic floor is very much related to lower back pain in women. It was really helpful to learn this during pregnancy as preparation for birth.

Hi Tee

Some people don’t find their way out of depression and despair. It really is a battle. I think you did an amazing job fighting through that. I wish everyone could!

know when I first got ill, I was in denial about the impact mental health can have on our bodies. It is a hard lesson to learn. I think society doesn’t fully understand it. Because of the experiences you’ve had and all of your knowledge and tenacity you were able to address it fairly quickly. It took me much longer.

I’m sorry to hear that you felt like that. I can empathise, I did too for a long time and then I stopped worrying about it with my health because I thought that I couldn’t have children. I won’t pry because I know that these things can be very painful for people. But you are welcome to share anything you choose and also welcome not to. For what it’s worth, I think you’re an incredible person. Your empathy and kindness are out of this world!

Being a new parent has changed my perspective on things because I’ve definitely found it to be incredibly challenging at times, especially when he was younger. It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve done. The screaming early on was very hard for me, and the sleep disturbances and the sheer amount of work. But it is getting easier now thankfully. No more evening screaming, only waking a couple of times a night and now I’ve recovered from the surgery my husband is able to help out and give me a break. Now, the difficulties are more practical. Finding the time to study, teaching him to take a bottle.

I have more empathy for the mistakes that my parents made raising me. I was lucky in that I’ve had a lot of therapy over the years. I’m a lot older than my biological mother was when she had us. And I was lucky enough to have a husband and medical care and additional therapy to help with the trauma that emerged related to the birthing process and childhood trauma that reared it’s head being a new parent. And these are newer things that help. They didn’t exist before. And not everyone can access help for various reasons. And even the time off work to deal with this isn’t an option for some people depending on the country. Even if some of the circumstances had only been slightly different for me. I don’t know how I would have managed.

I don’t understand how single parents or people with multiple children manage. I really was very very lucky.

Wishing you all the best! 🙏❤️