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Be Kind to Yourself

by Cindy Bunch

When we expe­ri­ence frus­tra­tions in dai­ly life, many of us hold our­selves to blame. Self-crit­i­cism is often our default set­ting. But we can have a more gra­cious pos­ture toward our­selves. We can prac­tice dis­ci­plines of self-kindness.

Edi­tor and spir­i­tu­al direc­tor Cindy Bunch calls us to self-care through greater com­pas­sion for our­selves. She helps us pay atten­tion to the frus­tra­tions that bug us in order to iden­ti­fy neg­a­tive think­ing about our­selves or oth­ers. As we do so, we can dis­cern what we need to let go. This allows us to lean into the things that bring us joy. Each chap­ter is filled with spir­i­tu­al prac­tices and cre­ative exer­cis­es for reflec­tion and cel­e­bra­tion. The pages of the appeal­ing small­er book for­mat are illus­trat­ed with pho­tographs and art from the author.

Be kind to your­self. And dis­cov­er new oppor­tu­ni­ties to embrace joy.

2020 IVP

Recommendations

"'The only true gift is a portion of oneself,' writes Ralph Waldo Emerson, and this, to me, is an apt description of what Cindy has done in the book you hold in your hand. She has shared with us generous portions of herself—her own story, her honest struggles, and the practices that have helped her endure and find joy in the midst of it all. Since all of us have our own stories that include joy and pain, gladness and sadness, this is something we all need."
Ruth Haley Barton, founding president of the Transforming Center
"Be Kind to Yourself is a lovely gift of grace. I love that it is filled with practices to help act as antidotes for difficult times. This really is a sweet treasure to reach for when life is feeling especially unkind; it's guaranteed to inspire a new perspective."
Christine Valters Paintner, poet and spiritual director, author of Earth, Our Original Monastery
"For some time I have been contemplating writing a book that would offer support for life's ordinary days. Now I won't have to write it because my dear friend Cindy Bunch has written an inviting, creative book of reflection and noticing. All too often we are focused on the highs and lows of life, which may be less than 20 percent of our days. But how can we enjoy the plain, old, routinely typical day? Thanks, Cindy, for inviting us to see and know the presence of God in the ordinary days of our lives and helping us to hold on to the 'unforced rhythms of grace.' May Be Kind to Yourself become a go-to for all who long to stay awake to the beauty and revelations of life."
Juanita Campbell Rasmus, spiritual director, copastor of St. John's United Methodist Church, Houston, and author of Learning to Be: Finding Your Center After the Bottom Falls Out

About the Author

Cindy Bunch

Cindy Bunch is asso­ciate pub­lish­er and direc­tor of edi­to­r­i­al at Inter­Var­si­ty Press, where she has worked for more than thir­ty years. She acquires and devel­ops for the For­ma­tio line of spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion books. She is the author of Be Kind to Your­self as well as sev­er­al Bible study guides in IVP’s LifeGuide® Bible Stud­ies series.

Cindy holds an MA in the­o­log­i­cal stud­ies from North­ern Sem­i­nary and com­plet­ed her spir­i­tu­al direc­tion train­ing at North Park Sem­i­nary. She and her hus­band live in the Chica­go suburbs.