Is Self-Compassion Missing from Your Spiritual Practice?

It’s striking how often people who reach out to our center for spirit removal admit—though often indirectly—that they’ve never truly learned how to be gentle with themselves. Self-compassion isn’t something many of us grew up with. It’s rarely modeled at home, and schools certainly don’t teach it. In today’s post, we’ll explore why self-compassion isn’t just helpful—it’s essential, especially when facing life’s more difficult chapters.

The Roots of Harshness Toward Ourselves

In countless families, when a child makes a mistake, the instinctive response is punishment or criticism. Rarely is there space for understanding or emotional validation. If a child is hurting or struggling, their emotions are often brushed aside—not out of cruelty, but usually out of fear. Fear that they’ll fall behind, that they’ll be "too sensitive," that emotions are distractions from performance. And so, academic success, athletic achievements, and external accomplishments get prioritized, while emotional needs fall to the bottom of the list.

This ingrains a belief early on: you must always be perfect. And if you’re not? You deserve to suffer for it. Or worse—you must be a bad person. So when life gets hard and mistakes happen, many immediately reach for an invisible whip, lashing themselves with guilt, shame, and judgment. But this self-inflicted pain doesn’t solve problems—it multiplies them.

A lack of self-compassion doesn’t just affect our emotional well-being—it can also leave us spiritually unprotected. When we constantly judge, reject, or suppress parts of ourselves, we create inner voids—spaces filled with shame, fear, and pain. These unhealed wounds emit a frequency that can attract lost or suffering spirits, who are drawn to unresolved emotions. Without the shield of self-love and acceptance, our energy field weakens, making it easier for external influences to attach and disrupt our lives.

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The First Step in Healing? Compassion, Not Condemnation

So what do you do when you’ve made mistakes? Maybe serious ones. Maybe ones that have hurt others. Maybe ones you’re only just now beginning to understand. The answer isn’t to collapse into self-pity or wallow in helplessness. That’s not compassion—that’s despair dressed up in shame.

True self-compassion sounds more like this: “This is painful. I’m hurting. But there is a way forward. I can face this, and I will.” It’s not a way to excuse harm or sidestep responsibility. It’s a way to anchor yourself in love while you do the hard work of transformation.

Learning Self-Compassion Starts with Awareness. If self-compassion feels completely foreign, you’re not alone. Many people have never practiced it—simply because they were never taught. But it’s never too late to start.

Begin by noticing your emotions. Don’t brush them away or try to rationalize them out of existence. If you feel sadness, anger, grief, jealousy, fear—let the emotion be there. It might manifest physically: a knot in your stomach, tightness in your chest, a pounding head, a rush of heat, or a breath that just won’t come easily. Don’t panic. These are your body’s way of showing you where your pain lives.

Allow the energy of that emotion to flow. Don’t push it down. Don’t fight it. Simply stay present with it.

Then, remind yourself: "Others have felt this too. I’m not the only one." This tiny recognition can create a surprising sense of ease. Much of our suffering comes from feeling utterly alone in it. But you’re not.

Now offer your pain compassion. You might say, “This is hard. I’m hurting. But I’m filling this space with gentleness and love.” Feel what shifts.

Shifting from Reactivity to Presence

If you’ve done the practice with sincerity, you’ll likely notice a subtle loosening. As if there’s suddenly a bit more space around you. You may breathe more freely. Where before there was tightness and overwhelm, now there’s a bit of clarity. You are no longer trapped in the emotion—you are beside it, observing it, not being consumed by it.

That’s the magic of self-compassion. It moves you from being hypnotized by your emotions to calmly witnessing them. It breaks the reflexive patterns—screaming, fleeing, attacking—and invites you to respond instead of react.

Without Self-Compassion, Empathy Becomes Nearly Impossible

Here’s the hard truth: if you can’t be compassionate toward yourself, you won’t be able to be truly compassionate toward others. Their pain will feel foreign, confusing, even threatening. You’ll judge or withdraw. Perhaps that’s something you’ve experienced—those moments when you were suffering, and people around you didn’t know how to sit with your pain. Instead of support, they offered advice, warnings, or silence.

Not because they didn’t care—but because they didn’t know how to care. If they’ve never offered tenderness to their own wounds, how could they possibly understand yours?

Sometimes all you need in a moment of deep pain is someone who’s willing to be there, quietly, without trying to fix or explain. The heart feels that kind of presence. It’s like a balm on the soul.

In a World Obsessed with Achievement, Compassion Is a Radical Act

In modern Western culture, worth is often measured in milestones: career, income, family, appearance. It’s easy—dangerously easy—to fall into despair when one of these external things crumbles. We judge ourselves mercilessly, convinced we’ve failed.

But your worth isn’t earned—it’s innate. You are already extraordinary, simply because you exist. The divine spark within you is reason enough to honor yourself with care.

And until the day you fully believe that, come back to the practice. Again and again. Offer yourself compassion not just when it’s convenient, but especially when it’s hard. Especially when the world tells you that you’re not enough.

Because you are. You always have been.

About the Author:

Marianna oversees the daily operations of The Dr. Wanda Pratnicka Center, skillfully advising staff members on guiding clients through the spirit removal process. Her efforts extend beyond management; she is dedicated to raising awareness about the phenomenon of spirit possession, utilizing various platforms including events, books, and digital media. In her leisure time, Marianna delights in gardening, immerses herself in reading, and explores new natural wonders.

Stay tuned for enlightening new blog posts EVERY SUNDAY - your weekly dose of inspiration and guidance.

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

1. You can find more information about common symptoms of spirit attachment / possession here:

SYMPTOMS OF SPIRIT ATTACHMENT

2. How to check whether you or your loved one are experiencing a spirit attachment?

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3. Want to learn more about how we remove spirits?

SPIRIT REMOVAL PROCESS