For the average person, regardless of religious belief or vocation, being compassionate to oneself doesn’t come naturally. Sometimes—even a lot of the time—it’s easier to love others than to love ourselves. And that’s because we’re unavoidably aware of our own flaws and fears and failures. We live everyday with the qualities we deem to be unlovable. We know the lousy things we’re capable of doing, the horrible things that cross our mind that we hide from others. We see the bad in us and the good in others.