Many of us carry old stories about who we are—stories that leave us feeling small, stuck, or disconnected from our deeper strengths. This week, guest teacher Lakiba Pittman explored how self-compassion can help us reconnect with our truest selves. Through personal stories, she reflected on the “breadcrumbs from the soul” that have guided her home over the years: moments of meditation, nature, music, compassion, family, and unexpected connection. Rather than seeing growth as arriving at a destination, Lakiba invited us to view it as an ongoing process of opening new doors within ourselves and welcoming home the parts that have been waiting to be seen.
Click here to join the free Wednesday Meditations – which are open to everyone!
Talk: Coming Home to Yourself: Self-Compassion as the Foundation for Healing
Timecodes & main topics:
- 00:00 – The stories we carry: How inherited stories, personal narratives, and cultural messages shape our sense of self.
- 05:23 – Moments that become breadcrumbs: Lakiba shares how music, compassion, spirit, joy, family, and meaningful connections as guides back to ourselves.
- 07:08 – The role of self-compassion: Meeting ourselves with kindness instead of judgment and learning to care for our own suffering.
- 09:10 – Breadcrumbs from the soul: Teachers, friends, songs, conversations, and moments of stillness that help us remember who we are.
- 11:25 – Sharing our stories: Why Lakiba created Breadcrumbs from the Soul and the importance of passing personal stories to future generations.
- 13:53 – A house with many rooms: Personal growth as continually opening new doors to qualities such as joy, courage, creativity, grief, and awe.
- 16:29 – Opening doors despite fear: How self-compassion helps us move through doubt and discover hidden gifts within ourselves.
- 18:15 – Belonging to yourself: The realization that before belonging anywhere else, we belong to ourselves.
- 23:18 – Nature, healing, and self-discovery: Discussion of nature, Buddhism, lifelong growth, and reminders of essential truths.
- 26:08 – How to open the doors: Following intuition, staying open, and cultivating the courage to welcome new experiences.
- 29:52 – Compassion changes everything: How self-compassion transformed Lakiba’s life and helped her grow beyond limiting beliefs.
- 31:04 – Finding her own voice: Lakiba shares her experience of stepping in for Rick and learning to teach from her own story.
- 36:16 – Self-care versus self-centeredness: Discussion of healthy self-care, compassion, and caring for others.
- 41:30 – Lifelong self-discovery: Participant reflections on continuing to open doors and discover new parts of themselves throughout life.
A Meditation: Tending the Heart: Coming Home to Yourself
In this gentle meditation, Lakiba Pittman guides you through a compassionate exploration of your younger, present, and future selves, helping you reconnect with the strengths, gifts, and wisdom that have been within you all along.
Lakiba Pittman is an educator, compassion and mindfulness teacher, and facilitator who supports healing and well-being in individuals and communities. She is a professor at Menlo College and a Senior Instructor in Compassion Cultivation Training, certified through Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE). Lakiba teaches with the Compassion Institute, Healing Together, and Stanford Healthy Living. She is pursuing a PhD in Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, researching music, healing, and collective well-being.
