Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

by Kristin Neff

To stop trying to label ourselves as “good” or “bad” and simply accept ourselves with an open heart.

To treat ourselves with the same kindness, caring, and compassion we would show to a good friend, or even a stranger for that matter. Sadly, however, there’s almost no one whom we treat as badly as ourselves.

I had never considered that having compassion for yourself might be as important as having compassion for others.

Go to my website - www.self-compassion.org - and click on the "Test your level of self-compassion" link.

“I’m going to beat you to the punch and criticize myself before you can. I recognize how flawed and imperfect I am so you don’t have to cut me down and tell me what I already know. Hopefully you will then have sympathy for me instead of judging me

assault doesn’t have quite the same power when it merely repeats what you’ve already said to yourself.

“Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

and other forms of suffering. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is