Importance Of Self Compassion

Having self-compassion means the following:

We love and accept ourselves;
We understand that failing and making mistakes is a normal part of the human experience;
We’re capable of forgiving ourselves;
We treat ourselves with kindness and respect;
We give ourselves the self-care that we need; and
We’re a good friend to ourselves when things go wrong.
Self-compassion has been found to have a significant positive correlation with lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as higher levels of happiness, optimism, personal initiative and agreeableness. Fortunately, self-compassion can be developed. Below you’ll find five ways to practice self-compassion.

1. Be Kind to Yourself.

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Use Self-Compassion As a Motivation Technique.

Think of the following two characters:

A gruff army drill sergeant yelling at you to push through the pain and do one more sit-up, or else.
An optimistic mentor who cheers you on to do your best and encourages you when you feel discouraged.
Which of these two characters do you think would be most likely to help you to achieve your goals? Most people would pick the mean, yells in-your-face drill sergeant. After all, we’re conditioned to think that this abusive-type of behavior is what gets results. Therefore, that’s how we tend to talk to ourselves when we’re pursuing a goal.

However, studies show that, in fact, the second character is more effective. Kelly McGonigal is a psychologist at Stanford University and the author of The Neuroscience of Change: A Compassion-Based Program for Personal Transformation. She refers to a study in which participants took a very difficult test which was chosen to induce a sense of struggle and frustration.

Some of the participants were given a self-compassion induction after the test, while other participants were not. Specifically, this is the self-compassion message that some of the participants