Be gentle with yourself and accept yourself as you are. When difficulties arise, either within yourself or with others, respond with gentleness as a way to lift yourself and others up. True compassion comes from recognizing our shared human experiences of suffering and imperfections, rather than trying to appear virtuous. See yourself as an expression of open intelligence rather than being defined by your flaws.

1. BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF !
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Open intelligence is only found in accepting your data exactly as they are with no need
to try to be somebody else. In whichever way your particular data appear, that’s just the
way it is. There’s nothing to be made out of them. Accept yourself the way you are;
you’re all you’ve got! !
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When there is some kind of breakdown—huge or small—within ourselves or with
someone else, it’s important to be gentle. In the same way that you lift yourself up when
you choose to take advantage of open intelligence rather than data, you can also lift
others. By being gentle with yourself and relying on open intelligence, you can be there
to lift others up again and again, just as you would lift yourself up.!
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You become compassionate because you have seen that you’re like everyone else.
Rather than trying to make yourself into some kind of paragon of virtue, you see how
you have suffered from indulging in your data and how others have done the same. !
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You give up all of your strategies, and you see yourself exactly as you are. This is how
the most compassionate, loving people on earth have become that way: by seeing
themselves exactly as they are. That’s where compassion arises. You have to be able to
reach that point where you realize that everything is the self-reflection of open
intelligence. !
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