Why Self-Compassion is important
Self-compassion involves being aware of our own pain and suffering, and understanding that this is a hard, but normal human experience. Directing feelings of kindness and
care towards ourselves and focusing our attention and energy on how we might alleviate our pain, are also crucial components of self-compassion.
Self-compassion can bring great benefits for our mental health and well-being. Particularly, self-compassion can activate our soothing system, which calms the threat and drive systems.
Our threat and drive systems tend to be overactive for many of us much of the time, and responsible for the difficult emotions we may be struggling with (e.g., anxiety, anger, depression).
The opposite of self-compassion is self-criticism. This very negative thinking style often links to difficult emotions and mental health problems. Those who are highly self-critical particularly
need to develop the ability to relate to themselves in a compassionate way.
Info Sheet – What is Self-Compassion (PDF)