Be Gentle With Your Self

Richard Bogue is a long-time resident of Project HOME.  He lives at 1515 Fairmount Avenue, and frequently shares his poetry and writing with the broader community.

Many years ago when I was living in San Francisco I decided to go to church one Sunday.  I chose the Unitarian church and at the end of the service the minister urged the congregation to “be gentle with your selves.”

This phrase has stayed with me ever since.  Here at Project HOME I sometimes get feedback that I’m too hard on myself, too harsh with myself.  And I agree I am too hard on myself at times.  I’m diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression.  Of course I take medication to combat the schizophrenia and depression and at this point everyone seems to agree I’m doing very well.  But there are times when I slip back into old habits!  I lie in bed not wanting to get up; I feel terribly guilty about things I did when I was younger, people I hurt.  And it’s at just these times I need to remember “be gentle with your self.”  I share this with you today in the hope you too – when you’re being rough with your self, when you’re being too hard on your self – might think of the phrase “be gentle with your self.”  The minister certainly touched me that Sunday many years ago.