01/28/2026
✍️ The Gentle Voice for Ourselves - So many of us know how to speak kindly to strangers, how to comfort others who are hurting, how to use gentle words when someone else makes a mistake.
Yet when it comes to ourselves—when we remember our own failures, our own regrets, our own moments we wish we could undo—the voice we use is harsh, unforgiving.
This inner harshness is a form of violence we inflict on ourselves daily. And if we cannot walk peacefully within our own hearts, how can we truly walk peacefully in the world?
To practice a genuine walk for peace, we must transform how we speak to ourselves.
When judgment rises in us, perhaps instead of “I am terrible,” we could gently say: “I did the best I could with what I knew then, and now I’ve gained a new lesson.”
When shame takes hold, perhaps we could imagine holding the hand of a small child who just tripped. Would we scold them harshly, or help them up with tenderness? Maybe we could use that same gentle voice to speak to our own souls.
Instead of drowning in regret, perhaps we could use kind words to make a loving promise for this present moment. Not demanding perfection from ourselves, but committing to try again, to keep learning.
Here is a truth we must sit with: when we are unable to forgive ourselves, we are also unable to truly forgive anyone else. Our harshness toward ourselves leaks into how we see and treat others.
But when we learn to speak to our own hearts with the softest words, when we let old mistakes become nourishment instead of poison, something beautiful happens. Mindfulness blooms. Compassion expands. Peace takes root—first within us, then flowing naturally outward to everyone we meet.
The gentlest voice, the kindest words, the most patient understanding—these should not be reserved only for others. They belong to us too.
May we all learn to speak to ourselves the way we would speak to someone we deeply love who is struggling.
May you and all beings be well, happy, and at peace.
