Bjarne Timonen

I think the concept of Maitri (loving kindness towards oneself in Sanskrit) is a very important one in living our lifes and practicing spirituality. Without it, harshness and dogma are easily created. Especially in the West, we tend to be really harsh on ourselves having set our goals extremely high and beating ourselves up if we don’t live up to them. Also in spiritual practice this tendency sneaks in pretty easily, forcing yourself to meditate, to fast, to pray. All of these things are good, but they only become beneficial as soon as we can be gentle with ourselves at the same time, it’s like chemistry.The Buddhist notion that the only way to perceive true happiness in this life is by caring for others only works when we include ourselves in that, a process which is often overseen. When we loose Maitri, we loose our big mind and life looses it’s magic.