Self-Caring

I believe in the power of my own experience. I trust my own eyes, my own senses. There is no need for me to be dragged from doctrine to doctrine, from belief to belief. I have an inner voice. When I allow myself to be still and listen, I can hear it. There is a difference between being self-indulgent and self-caring. Self-indulgence is an attempt to bribe myself, to get away from what is really going on. Self-caring is treating myself as I wish to be treated. When I am caring rather than indulgent, the messages I get from within are clearer and better reflect truth.

I make up my own mind.

Believe nothing, 0 monks, merely because you have been told it… or because it is traditional, or because you yourselves have imagined it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings – that do believe and cling to and take it as your guide.

–  attributed to Buddha