Do you attempt to be compassionate, kind, and forgiving, but stop if you do not get validation from others? You may find yourself returning to your old fear based ways when you do not get the responses you expect.
Now it is the time to understand that it is only your gratitude that matters.
Looking to others for validation is just the ego talking and originates in the belief that your happiness is dependent on outside approval of others.
Be concerned with who you are right now, not what you have or have not done in the past.
You may find it helpful to begin by being grateful for your capacity to be kind to another living being. Is this not a precious and beautiful gift that is always available to you?
Make the following commitment each day:
No matter what happens, today my emphasis is on being kind to people in both thought and action.
Allow your kindness to expand to all the people in your life. Even those with whom you are most tempted to become defensive. They are here to teach you how to choose another way of thinking, acting, and being.
When you are defensive and afraid, you have nothing.
When you are kind with a grateful heart, you have everything.
Lee Jampolsky, Walking through Walls.