The curious paradox is that when I accept myself as I am, then I can change.**
Carl Rogers

Inner and outer transformation go hand in hand, and we will not be able to tackle our most urgent crises … if we do not also change the very ways we think about ourselves and others.^
Anna Katharina Schaffner

When we find ourselves, we
find each other:
Who is my True Self?
What is my Contribution?

No once-and-for-all thing –
Thankfully –
It richly fills a lifetime:
To listen takes time, …
to learn to hear the world within and
the world without,
to attend to the quiet voice of life
and heart alike.^^

Here are ten ancient skills to develop over a lifetime,
As gathered by Anna Katharina Schaffner:
Know yourself,
Control your mind,
Let it go,
Be good,
Be humble,
Simplify,
Use imagination,
Persevere,
Mentalise,*^
Be present.

*’If you want to be happy, practice compassion; if you want others to be happy, practice compassion.’ – Dalai Lama; Dacher Keltner’s Born to Be Good;
**David Rome’s Your Body Knows the Answer;
^Anna Katharina Schaffner’s The Art of Self-Improvement;
^^Maria Popova’s The Marginaian blog: An Illustrated Ode to Attentiveness and the Art of Listening;
*^To place ourselves into the life of another.