Most of us are blessed with the qualities of compassion, love and empathy, and we are often able to relate to and feel the emotions of those around us. Quite frankly, compassion is a gift- but a lot of us fail to exercise it where we need it the most- with our own selves. It may sound counter intuitive, but self compassion is actually one of the most important tools needed for you to grow as a person. Here are ways in which practicing self compassion could make us happier.
5 Ways Self Compassion Makes You A Happier Person
It Makes You Positive
When practiced daily, self compassion can help you feel much more positive, and can help change your thought patterns and emotions to happier ones. You may go through a number of experiences daily, and while some of them may be negative ones, you’ll be able to glide through them more effortlessly. Self compassion allows you to be more balanced in your approach with dealing issues, which is a valuable quality.
It Makes you More Mindful
When you’re compassionate towards yourself, you can view your thoughts and emotions without the judgement, which automatically makes you more mindful. You’ll find yourself being aware and more in the present moment than in the past or worrying about the future, and in general, makes you much more happier.
With self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and care we’d give to a good friend.
Kristin Neff
You’ll Be Successful
This one’s one of the best benefits of practising self compassion. Experts have found that people who are compassionate towards their own selves are more likely to be successful, and tend to be action oriented. These individuals are much more driven than others, and actually take steps to reach their goals. Infact, self compassion has also been found to help individuals overcome their bad habits such as smoking, drinking, and binge eating.
It Reduces Negativity
Whether or not you’re a pessimistic person, exercising self compassion can help transform your negative feelings and emotions into more positive ones. When you’re gentle on yourself, you’ll remember to treat others in the same way. Plus, since you’ll be more in control of your emotions, you’ll be less likely to feel overwhelmed, and you’ll be able to make healthy decisions as opposed to impulsive ones.
You’ll Be More Human
This may sound strange, but when you are compassionate with your own self, you automatically nurture the humanity that is within you. The more kind you are to yourself, the more kind you’ll be to those around you. The more you care for yourself and value your emotions, the more you’ll be able to do the same for others too.
All in all, being self compassionate can help you evolve into a more positive, driven, mindful and happier person.
True. Loving yourself, being kind to yourself automatically makes you a loving, kind person because that’s what you are used to doing!
It should be our default option, no? Too bad we have to learn to do this. But better late than never!
Hi Corinne – great minds must think alike. I’ve just written a post that I’m sharing in March on self-compassion. It’s a very overlooked quality that improves so many areas of our lives. Being a little bit kinder to ourselves and turning off the self-criticism is a huge step in finding contentment in life.
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM
Self-compassion is much needed in order for us to be compassionate to other souls on the lines of “A person can’t fill others’ cups from her cup if her own cup is running low or empty. Only a full cup can help.”
Compassion connects you with other people. When you feel connected to others you also feel better about yourself, which in turn leads to being happier.
I started practicing self-compassion a few years back. It sounds odd to many but when you can forgive yourself you tend to let go of the hurt that caused pain in the first place to get you to act out. This opens the door for the healing process for yourself and then with those around you.
Thank you,
Allison
HI Corinne, another thoughtful post that you have shared with us at #MLSTL. Self-compassion is a vital ingredient for a healthy and happy life and yet we are always so hard on ourselves. I agree that taking the pressure off and not setting the bar as high helps us to feel more positive about ourselves and in turn will increase our contentment and happiness. Have a great week. xx
I agree with all you have written Corinne. I am finding negativity to be a very dangerous way to be especially for our mental health. If we can learn to be kind to ourselves it spreads out to others #mlstl