Self-Compassion Series-Introduction

I’m going to be doing a short series on self-compassion and so naturally we will start with defining it. What is self-compassion? Essentially, self-compassion is being kind and gentle to yourself. It is the opposite of self-criticism and does not always come as naturally to us as that critical voice sometimes can. So imagine you get back a test back and you get a much lower grade than you expected. Self-criticism says “you should have studied more, what did you expect, how could you be so stupid, maybe if you had spent more time at the library, you suck at taking tests.” Meanwhile, self-compassion says “You did your best, you struggled with the test but you can improve for next time, one bad grade does not make you stupid, it’s okay.” You see how gentle and kind self-compassion is? It is how you would want others to speak to you but not always the way you speak to yourself. So many of us have that critical voice that is loud and confident in telling us we are to blame. It is often something that happens without you giving it much thought and you may not notice it until you begin to look for it. Think about the last time something didn’t go your way. How did you react? What was the narrative in your head? Was it more compassionate or more critical? How would you like to change the way you talk to yourself?

In this series, we are going to discuss what self-compassion is and isn’t, common myths, why it even matters, and how to become more compassionate with ourselves.