Where Kindness Begins
Mindful Self-Compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding as you would a friend, especially during tough and challenging times.
Often when we make a mistake or feel inadequate our inner critic can be so harsh and shouts the loudest!
What if that voice could be softened and met with kindness instead of harsh judgement?
Recognising that you (and me!) are not perfect, just human, trying our best.
The 8 Week Mindful Self-Compassion course offered at Ashe House is open to everyone – all are welcome and it is not a requirement to have an established mindfulness practice to participate on a Mindful Self-Compassion course.
How do you reach out to a friend in trouble, who may have had a misfortune or is going through difficult times?
Most of us naturally feel compassion when a close friend is struggling and respond by offering support, a hug, a kind act, and kind words.
What would it be like to receive the same caring attention from yourself whenever you needed it most or when you are experiencing difficulty?
All that’s required is a shift in attention —recognizing that you, too, are a worthy recipient of love, kindness and compassion. Self-compassion involves the capacity to comfort and soothe ourselves, and to motivate ourselves with encouragement, when we feel stressed, fail, or feel inadequate.
Kindness has the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Kindness also helps us have a sense of being warm, soothed and nourished giving us a way to express care and respond to whatever challenges come along (meeting your own struggles too and coming back to being your own friend and ally).
The good news is Self-Compassion can be learned by anyone as it is innate to all human beings and is more a ‘remembering’ of our capacity to repeatedly evoke goodwill towards ourselves especially when life is difficult and stressful, while cultivating the desire that all living beings be happy and free from suffering, including ourselves!
Self -Compassion is an inner strength that enables us to be more fully human – to acknowledge our shortcomings, learn from them, and make necessary changes with an attitude of kindness and self-respect.
Based on the groundbreaking research of Kristin Neff (www.self-compassion.org) and the clinical expertise of Christopher Germer (www.mindfulselfcompassion.org) Mindful Self-Compassion teaches core principles and practices that enables us to respond to difficult moments in our lives with kindness, care and understanding.
Research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional resourcing, resilience, well-being, lower levels of anxiety and depression, healthy lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise, and more satisfying personal relationships.
Being both mindful and compassionate leads to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives. Take Dr. Kristin Neff’s Self-Compassion Test For More Personal Understanding About Self-Compassion! https://self-compassion.org/self-compassion-test/