This week: The Transformative Effects of Mindful Self-Compassion, an article by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer on Mindful.org
Kristin Neff’s is the author of Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself. Chris Germer authored The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions. Together, they wrote The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive.
A few key highlights from the article:
Self-criticism is often our first reaction when things go badly, because the “fight, flight, freeze” defense part of our brains get triggered first (see this great 3-minute video explainer). This often leads to chronic stress, anxiety, and depression.
When we’re able to offer ourselves compassion, we begin to feel safer, which turns off the defense mechanism. The brain chemical oxytocin and endorphins are released, which immediately makes us feel better, reducing our stress levels.
My favorite quote from the article:
“Practice compassion simply because we’re all imperfect human beings, living imperfect lives. And life is hard. In other words, practice being a ‘compassionate mess.’”
Give self-compassion a try
Self-compassion is not where I naturally go when something’s not going well and I have to remind myself, regularly, to practice it. I often turn to the prompt below, taken from the Take Two course (a 28 day on-line guide to using the Take Two Journal). Give it a try. Do you feel differently after? Share below in the comments section.
Let’s all work on offering ourselves self-compassion— we’re just doing the best we can.
— Kate
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This blog is created by Take Two: a Journal for New Beginnings, a self-guided journal that shares tools, activities, and writing prompts designed to build resilience. We also offer a 28 day course to guide you through the journal with videos, additional writing prompts and guided meditations. The Journal will be released July 28, 2020 and is available for pre-sale. Published by Chronicle Books.
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