By the time Sharon Salzberg is 16 years old, she knows the people around her don’t admit to suffering, much less talk about it. A year later, she makes a life-changing decision to travel alone to India to study meditation. It doesn’t all go as expected. Through the journey’s disappointments, discomforts, and surprise lessons, she finds an unexpected friend: herself. In today’s Meditative Story, Sharon talks about how being kind, especially to herself, became her biggest mountain to climb.Listen to Pico Iyer's episode of Meditative Story, "A home that had been waiting for me forever": http://listen.meditativestory.com/IyerClassicWWEach episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story at: www.meditativestory.comSign up for the Meditative Story newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gyDGgDLearn more about Sharon:Website: sharonsalzberg.comInstagram: www.instagram.com/sharonsalzbergTwitter: www.twitter.com/sharonsalzbergFacebook: www.facebook.com/SharonSalzbergYouTube: www.youtube.com/user/SharonSalzbergVideoMedium: www.medium.com/@sharonsalzbergLinkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sharonsalzbergSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.