Step 4 Compassion: Compassion for one's self is necessary.

If you don't have compassion, you won't allow yourself to do much, because of the fear of doing something wrong. When you have compassion for yourself you can forgive yourself for mistakes or mishaps and still step out to try again. When you have compassion for yourself you don't need to be perfect or always right. When you have compassion for yourself you can authentically have compassion for others. It allows you to forgive others and let people be human. Having compassion for others means you can see someone who not being kind and see beyond their behavior and consider what might be happening with them.

We want to know how much compassion you show yourself right now? Do you allow yourself to take risks? It is through taking risks that we grow and continue on our path to freedom. Without risk, we become stagnant. How often are you taking risks? Do you feel like you are moving toward your dreams, and are on your path toward freedom?

Think about where in your life you show yourself compassion and in what areas of your life you do not. Make a list of where you can improve and choose one step you can take toward giving yourself more compassion. Maybe it will require you to ask for support? We are here always to support you.

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Our tool this month to support you with having more compassion for yourself is, seeing your innocence. As you practice seeing yourself as a human who is going to make missteps and not do everything right the first time, you will start to see your innocence. You are not messing up on purpose, you are not starting your day saying, "How can I mess things up or hurt someone's feelings?"

You are not attempting to be late or oversleep or respond in a way that is not in alignment with your values. Sometimes things happen when we don't mean them to. That can happen because we are triggered or sleepy or hungry or feeling misunderstood. We may have all kinds of reasons that we temporarily act out of fear. This doesn't make us a bad person, it makes us human. Embracing our humanity is an act of compassion.

When we can do this for ourselves it will change our lives. We will beat ourselves up less and we will allow ourselves to try again. We will see that their actions are not on purpose and that they really have nothing to do with us. We will start to see that everyone is really trying to do the best they can with what they have. We will see that not everyone is in the same place as we are or has the same tools that we have. We will be more forgiving and have more patience with others. Seeing your innocence and others will change how you see the world around you.

Think about that area of your life where you don't have as much compassion. How can seeing your innocence change that amount of compassion? Will it be easier to extend kindness towards yourself? Will you be able to step out and risk more? Will you trust yourself to listen and act upon your intuition? How will understanding your compassion for yourself directly affects all these areas of your life change how you proceed?

Share with us how increasing your compassion has changed your life. We want to know how your practice of these steps is improving. You can email us or comment in the Facebook group. Either way, we want to know.

*Information is taken from the Pathway of Change Workshop

created by Rhonda Britten and her best-selling book Fearless Living. As well as our numerous years of coaching and learning.