Compassionate Sanity

The buzz of the new year festivities has passed and the reality and pressure of responsibility and demands are setting in. You may already feel yourself being triggered by people or events: you may have lashed out at someone in irritation, found yourself having self-critical thoughts or feeling shame about something that happened to you.

At times we all experience negative thoughts, feelings and reactions. Each of us has spent decades unconsciously cultivating habitual thoughts, feelings and reactions that are linked to our childhood survival and defence strategies. Although these strategies helped us to survive as children, they now unhelpfully serve to distance us from a compassionate connection with ourselves and others.

I’d like to introduce you to the simple, radical and transformative approach of Compassionate Sanity. Compassionate Sanity starts with the realisation that nobody consciously chooses their negative thoughts, feelings or reactions. Nobody! Including yourself.

It therefore naturally follows that nobody should be blamed for their negative thoughts, feelings or reactions.

We are all different and practising Compassionate Sanity does not come naturally for most of us. Learning more about the motivational drive and avoidance strategies behind your habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and reacting can be very helpful for practising Compassionate Sanity. The Enneagram personality system is a great tool for identifying your motivational drive and getting to understand your habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and reacting – read more about the Enneagram here.

Today and every moment that follows, I invite you to actively meet any negative thought, feeling or reaction – of yours and of others – with kindness and empathy. Yes, it is radical and also normal for your mind to resist practising Compassionate Sanity. Just choose to practice it anyway. You are training your mind for the sake of your sanity, rather than spending days, months or years of your precious life blaming or judging yourself or someone else.

Taking the Compassionate Sanity approach to life you can sit back and relax as you watch your world start to transform.

May Compassionate Sanity be with you in 2023!

Much love,
Renier