Question:
What is the proper way to deal with suffering from being angry at himself, or from being strongly [and unproductively] critical with himself ?Answer:
Every person has a place in the soul where he loves himself, with a kind of love that is unconditional, even if only a little. Meaning, there is a place within oneself where one loves himself boundlessly, when it comes to that point. The avodah (task) of a person is to expand this place within. Therefore, as a person is in the midst of suffering from strong [unproductive] self-criticism, he needs to let himself drop into the place in his soul where he loves himself unconditionally. Then, slowly, he should expand that place in the soul, more and more. To explain this, just as the physical body needs the ground to stand on, so does the soul has its ground to stand on, where it can find refuge for itself so that it shouldn’t encounter trouble. One should fall into this place in the soul, from the awareness to expand this place in the soul and to strengthen it.
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