Antidotes to Self-Pity

The Online Photographer, one of the blogs I follow, had a post on Gratitude last Thanksgiving. It seemed so appropriate after months of staying in my cave. “Gratitude is absolutely a key component in a practical spiritual toolkit. For one thing, it's the antidote to self-pity. The two are incompatible feelings; you can't be grateful and self-pitying at the same time—the two won't arise together and seldom co-exist. Since self-pity is one of the main causes of our unhappiness and discontent—one of the main pathways by which self-will, ego and greed poison our attitudes—knowing of an antidote is powerful. Whenever I'm feeling sorry for myself, or put-upon because things aren't going my way; or when the idea that I'm the one who knows best is festering in my mind; or I'm feeling dismissive or intolerant of others (because this is one of the guises self-pity and self-will often takes), or I'm just feeling grouchy because nothing ever goes my way—I counter it with gratitude. I turn my thoughts around to everything I have to be grateful for, try to put that negative attitude into its proper perspective. Is what's happening to me so bad? When I think of others who really have problems, much worse than mine, and feel compassion for them—immediately, it right-sizes my own complaints, making them diminish like an ice cube in a bowl of hot water. Instead of counting your complaints, which is our natural human tendency, try counting your blessings instead. It works. We can actually make self-pity evaporate using this mental trick. It pays immediate dividends, instantly improving our mood, attitude, and outlook.” This is a link to the entire article.

Today I read another article that, for me, is an antidote to self-pity. A quote: “I am alive. I have food, I go out, I go for walks, I do some shopping. And I remember: No one wants to kill me.” A link to the article.