Compassion

We are always told to have compassion for others, to love others for their flaws and realize that we are only human. As I was in Yoga class this last week, the teacher was talking to us and helping us to relax into child's pose. I shifted into the pose and was really trying to let go off the stress I had been feeling, the teacher said, "this is your time to show compassion to yourself." I was taken aback. Do I take the time to show compassion to myself. Sometimes we focus so much on what we need to be doing for other people, that we let ourselves slip through the cracks. Now I'm not saying we need to be selfish, but I am saying we need to take sometime to tend to our own needs. I have been so stressed out with school, lack of sleep, my crazy schedule, etc, that I forgot to, as my Aunt calls it, "fill my bucket". When I lived with her at the start of last semester, she watched as I wouldn't go out on weekends or even see my friends because I had homework that I thought I had to get done right away. She always reminded me that if I don't remember to do stuff for me, that I will get burnt out and breakdown from the stress. Now that I am back at school, and diving into the same situation, I had to pause for a moment in yoga class and really think about what I need to do for me. Maybe it's sleeping in on Saturday instead of getting up early to study(thanks for the suggestion Bobby, it was really nice), or taking a dance class at a local studio, or even just giving myself enough time to cook a real meal. I need to start showing myself some real compassion because this semester is going to be a lot of work.