Love and Compassion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love and compassion begins with oneself.
Remember that your awareness is separate from your idea of an I.
To you this "I" is a separate person just like your room-mate in your room
or anybody else.
Unless your awareness learns to accept this "I" and also to be compassionate
with it, one cannot
learn to be compassionate towards others.

We do not need to make any effort to love others, just by being aware of
the "I", will cause one to be
aware that the pains and sufferings belong to this "I", and compassion
arises spontaneously.  To try to
arouse compassion by effort of will is artificial, the compassion will never
last.

Once the compassion and loving-kindness arises naturally towards "I", it
will, by itself, spread outwardsly
towards others.

Begin with yourself...