10 March 2020
No one deserves your compassion more than you!
Let’s start with the etymology of the word. The Latin root of compassion, is pati, which means ‘to suffer’. The prefix, com-, means ‘with’. In other words, ‘to have compassion’ means ‘co-suffering’ (to ‘suffer with’ ) and it involves feeling warmth, caring and the desire to help the suffering person in some way. Having compassion also means that you offer understanding and kindness to others when they make mistakes, rather than judging them harshly.
Compassion involves feeling moved by others’ suffering so that you respond to their pain. So, the first step to have self-compassion is to notice that you are suffering and you are having a difficult time. If you can see your suffering rather than ignoring or criticising your pain then you will be able to be kind to yourself and say ‘this is really difficult for me right now. How can I care for myself in this moment?’
Perhaps having compassion for yourself means that you honour and accept you are a human and you will make mistakes, have limitations, experience losses. This is the human condition, a reality shared by all of us.
5 tips to cultivate self-compassion
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Treat yourself as you would treat someone you really care about and you love unconditionally.
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Remember that you’re not alone.
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Remember that ‘you are only human’ and give yourself permission to be imperfect.
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Accept that self-compassion is seeing your suffering and not self-Indulgence.
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Practice mindfulness.
Photo by Min An, Pexels