The Self-Compassion Break This short practice trains us to bring mindfulness,
Common humanity and self-kindness to a moment of suffering.
Many people find that the Self-Compassion Break,
Which can take just 90 seconds,
Helps them pause that accumulation of stress and generate a sense of warmth,
Acceptance,
Positivity and friendliness that can be very motivating.
This practice can be used any time of day or night to help us to remember to evoke self-compassion when we need it most.
It can be beneficial to drop any expectation that this practice is going to make us feel good.
It might be that the practice allows us to tune in to unpleasant emotions that we weren't so aware of before.
Here we can lean into the acceptance,
Common humanity and kindness phases.
The point isn't to make us feel good,
The point is to get in touch with what's real,
Acknowledge that and be friendly and kind towards it,
Towards whatever we're experiencing.
And taking a Self-Compassion Break like this might highlight some further needs that we have,
Like physical or social needs.
Maybe we notice that we're feeling stiff and we need to stretch,
Maybe drink some water or that we feel like talking to someone.
So let's have a go at this short practice of the Self-Compassion Break.
If we're currently experiencing some kind of suffering or emotional discomfort,
Then we can work with this.
Otherwise we're invited to imagine ourselves in a situation that's a bit difficult,
That's causing us a little bit of stress.
So working with where we're already at or calling a situation to mind.
And actually feeling and receiving that suffering or that emotional discomfort as best we can.
With mindfulness we acknowledge what's happening,
We acknowledge that we're experiencing something that's not real,
With mindfulness we acknowledge what's happening.
And we might do that with some silent words of self-talk such as,
This is a moment of suffering.
Or other words such as,
This hurts,
Ow,
Or I'm feeling pretty stressed.
So taking a moment to choose some words that really speak to us.
Secondly comes common humanity.
We accept that suffering is part of life.
Maybe even saying that to ourselves,
Silently.
Suffering is what makes us human.
It can be a real relief to remember that we're not alone,
We all suffer from time to time.
So finding some words of self-talk to express this silently to ourselves.
For example,
Other people feel this too.
I'm not alone.
We're all struggling in our lives.
We can also soothe ourselves by placing a hand or both hands over the heart and feeling the warmth of that contact and the gentleness of that touch.
Or perhaps for us,
There's a different place that we'd like to experience a soothing touch.
Maybe it's on the tummy or a reassuring rub on the arm,
Or simply folding the hands one on top of the other.
We might like to experiment with a reassuring or soothing touch like this.
Which brings us into the next phase of self-kindness.
Finding some silent self-talk to express kindness towards ourselves,
Such as may I be kind to myself.
No matter what life throws at us,
No matter how many mistakes we make,
We can always benefit from treating ourselves with kindness.
And we could also ask,
What words do I really need to hear right now?
Maybe words such as,
May I accept myself just as I am.
May I forgive myself.
May I motivate myself with compassion.
May I be strong and rise to the challenge.
So choosing some words of self-talk that really speak to us right now.
We might also like to ask ourselves,
What do I really need right now?
Is there something behavioural that would really help,
For example going for a walk,
Going for a run,
Making ourselves a healthy salad,
Playing with the dog.
And at the end of this short practice we could take a moment just to rest in our good wishes and appreciate our efforts to self-care.
Thanks for taking time to reconnect.
