Self-Compassion Practice When Facing Adversities At Work

When facing adversity (discrimination, injustice) at work, besides our external actions to help the situation, it is essential to take care of our wounded inner-self. Wellness rituals are crucial to keep our mental and emotional health during those difficult times. One of them is to give yourself several short self-compassionate breaks throughout the day. This is an eight-minute self-compassion practice to give some medicine to your heart.

Transcript

Sit comfortably,

Keeping your chest open and a dignified posture.

Once you are ready,

Close your eyes.

Take one deep and slow luxurious breath.

With the inhalation,

Notice how the body expands and with space and with the exhalation let go of any tension.

At the end of the exhalation,

Connect with your mind.

Notice its quality.

Avoid any judgment,

Just observe.

If there are many thoughts,

There are heavy thoughts,

They are moving fast.

Take one deep and slow breath and with the inhalation allow the air to create space between those thoughts and with the exhalation give permission to your mind to settle and rest.

And then continue breathing in a soft soothing way.

Now pay attention to your heart and without judgments,

Notice how you feel.

Give it a name.

During these periods we know that we are feeling pain,

That we are having difficult strong emotions but we tend to see them quickly without staying for a second to ask if we can do something to make it better.

And we can because although we might not have all the control we want in external situations,

We do have full power regarding what happens inside ourselves.

We do have the power to heal ourselves,

Our heart.

Take one deep breath and with the inhalation say to yourself this is a painful moment or this is a moment of suffering.

And with the exhalation I am here for myself.

And continue breathing in a soft and soothing way.

We can give some medicine to our hearts when it is in pain.

We can do that through loving kindness and self-compassion phrases.

Let's do that but try to make these little prayers powerful.

Really feel them,

Imagine them in your mind and in your heart.

I will give you some examples but feel free to create your own.

Slowly breathe in and silently say to yourself may I be kind to myself.

Breathing out may I be strong.

Allow the energy of these phrases to activate inside you.

Breathing in may I believe in myself even if nobody else does.

I do believe in myself.

Breathing out may I feel protected.

Slowly breathe in may I be filled with love.

Breathing out may I be free of suffering.

Let go of the experience and take one last deep breath.

Following the breath in your mind's eye at the end of the exhalation or whenever you are ready slowly slowly open your eyes.

Remember you are not alone.

Thank you.