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Tanzin Palmo, a British born woman who embraced Buddhism, became a nun and spent 12 years living in a remote Himalayan mountain cave offers this insight about the importance of befriending yourself and cultivating self-acceptance:
“Most people are not friends with themselves. This is why they fear solitude and want always to be distracted. When there’s no external entertainment or other people, it’s very important just to make friends with yourself, to forgive yourself, to accept yourself. Okay, you’re not perfect (who is?) and just to get on with it and be nice and think kind thoughts towards yourself. […]
It would be very helpful for many people to have some period of silence and isolation, to look within and find out who they really are, when they’re not so busy playing roles —being the mother, wife, husband, career person, everybody’s best friend, or whatever facade we put up to the world as our identity. It’s very good to have an opportunity to be alone with oneself and see who one really is behind all the masks.”
“Most people are not friends with themselves. This is why they fear solitude and want always to be distracted. When there’s no external entertainment or other people, it’s very important just to make friends with yourself, to forgive yourself, to accept yourself. Okay, you’re not perfect (who is?) and just to get on with it and be nice and think kind thoughts towards yourself. […]
It would be very helpful for many people to have some period of silence and isolation, to look within and find out who they really are, when they’re not so busy playing roles —being the mother, wife, husband, career person, everybody’s best friend, or whatever facade we put up to the world as our identity. It’s very good to have an opportunity to be alone with oneself and see who one really is behind all the masks.”
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