Treat myself as a good friend

I’m walking with a friend. She tells me that the seam of her sock has bunched awkwardly and is hurting her little toe. ‘You’ll have to put up with it’, I say, ‘there’s no time to stop. We’re already late in starting these fresh knocks. In fact, you dithered about far too much at home and made us late in the first place.’

I’m asking myself if I would really say this to a friend. Of course I wouldn’t. I’d say ‘Oh we must find a place to sit down straight away. It’s really important that you’re comfortable. That’s the most important thing of all’ Perhaps I would even have noticed her discomfort without her having to mention it.

My practice tonight is to treat myself as I would treat my own good friend. I stop and sort out the wrinkle in my sock.