Takes 2 To Tango: Self Esteem and Self Compassion

Quoting Swami Vivekananda

“There are hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the body is ready & predisposed to receive them.

There may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us. Never mind! They dare not approach us, they have no power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened.”

So takes two to tango; the external world & my inner world

Doing the right things internally insulates us from the external both for corona & mental health

Good Stuff: But this seems to be almost divine teaching with no relation to us mortal beings

SO THE BIG CONTEST: Self Confidence/ Esteem (Practical Vedanta of Swami Vivekananda) Vs Self-Compassion (Compassion of Buddha)

Not an expert on any of these esoteric subjects…just random thoughts based on what I think I know till now on whatever gives comfort to the ailing/weakened mind?

What ails the mind: Loss of job, face, standing in society, relationships, money, image, health etc. OR too much of the good stuff, all of these steal our mental equanimity which in turn makes us inefficient.

Just that the book “Practical Vedanta” published by Advaita Ashram helped me in my personal quest for Self Confidence/ Esteem. My personal take: it should be essential reading for all children in their senior school years so that no one lacks Self Confidence/ Esteem.

However, people then tend to go to the other extreme of….. Superiority complexes; not because of any wrongs in the all-encompassing teachings, but in their selective applications

So we are to also have the heart that encompasses all (Swami Vivekananda sure had it & he was an ardent admirer of Buddha) like Buddha.

Some modern psychologists say that it is better to have more of Self Compassion (Living in present + Shit happens with everyone; take it in your stride; not alone in this + be as kind to yourself as we are to others (best friends) when something bad happens) than Self Esteem.