Learning to practice love starts with ourselves. If we get still, we can turn toward trust and ask ourselves, “Am I bringing kindness to this moment?” And we use that pause to determine the action we need. So self-love is part of the practice of tending to the welfare of the whole world. Because if we don’t start here—in the garden of our own heart and our own being—when we tend outward we find that we really haven’t had enough nurturing ourselves.
JD Doyle
Spirit Rock Residential Teacher
JD Doyle (they/them) teaches at the East Bay Meditation Center and in many other communities. They are committed to celebrating the diversity of our human saṅgha, transforming the impacts of racism, honoring all genders, and living in ways that affirm the sacredness of the Earth.