The practice of mindfulness tends to increase our level of compassion. But we still fall into the trap of being compassionate towards others while being unfairly harsh on ourselves. We can greatly improve our experience of life through the practice […]
At start of a new year, it’s very tempting to focus on what we need to improve about ourselves. Indeed, this can even be helpful if not carried to extremes – sometimes enough of our resolutions get carried through to […]
Do you get something wrong every day? That’s “bombu” nature. This Buddhist concept means we never get things completely right: instead we often make a mess of things because we’re human. Bombu nature means we need to accept we […]
Will your future self be a success or failure, healthy or sick, happy or sad? We spend a lot of our time thinking, worrying and speculating about the future but I find that one way to cut through that preoccupation […]
Here are links to some self-compassion resources on this website: Self-compassion: Kindness towards the person you already are Four exercises in self-compassion Why the growing interest in self-compassion? True Friend – an online course in mindful self-compassion My self-compassion audios […]
Here’s an exercise in self-compassion especially for those who feel guilty about doing nice things for themselves. In my youth in Ireland we were told that good Irish Catholics should engage in ‘self-mortification’ which is giving yourself a tough time […]
What, if it happened in the future, would transform your life? What, if it had happened in the past, would have transformed your life? Psychology tells us there’s a good chance that neither of these events would change your feelings […]
When I began to write and think about self-compassion in 2015, the concept generated less interest than it does today. Self-compassion as a practice was becoming part of the mindfulness movement but outside that arena not much was heard about […]
Imagine a new romantic interest invites you to his home for dinner. You get all dressed up and over you go. Maybe you buy something for dessert to show your appreciation. When you arrive he pulls out a chair and […]
Well-wishing Take a couple of minutes now and then, perhaps with your eyes closed, to do this exercise based on an old Buddhist practice: Observe your breathing calmly for short while. Now imagine that somebody has sat down in front […]
