Be gentle with yourself. It was a ‘message’ I received a few years ago during an attempted meditation that was going something like this: “Why do you always screw up your relationships? What is wrong with you? Here we go again, idiot!” You get the idea. And then something arose suddenly and completely and serenely that said, “Be gentle with yourself.” My mental battering came to an abrupt halt as I searched my mind for the origins of that thought.…