Millennials have it rough today. We float from our daily work schedule, brave the commute, and go home. Not to mention, we all have had to expend the energy to ensure good holistic health. But most of all, a lot of us are plagued with existential dread – about the economy, the future and the worry that our current salaries don’t match today’s inflation.
However, there is an area that we can improve on and benefit from—self-compassion. We can all afford not to be so hard on ourselves. However, what is self-compassion, and what can we do to practice it daily?
Dr. Kristin Neff introduced the concept of self-compassion. By having self-compassion, you have to relate to yourself in a forgiving way, even when situations are down in the dumps. You have to be warm and kind to yourself.
Ways and tips to practice self-compassion include the following:
Practicing Mindfulness
While playing a game on Bet88 or some other gambling site, you might not get much chance to practice mindfulness. On the contrary, mindfulness is crucial in the practice of self-compassion. By being mindful, you curate and notice your thought patterns and react to them with kindness. The most essential element of mindfulness is to remain present in the moment, cherish it, and give it attention.
You can practice mindfulness while doing simple activities like focusing on your breath or doing a body scan. This will help cultivate awareness.
Talk To Yourself Like You Would A Friend
One of the mental health practices that I encountered when I was actively scheduling twice-a-month therapy sessions was to do cognitive restructuring exercises. They helped me sort out the way I thought and perceived situations. In one of the processes for the exercise, a question I had to answer was, “What would you tell yourself if it happened to your friend?”
There’s a similar idea in practising self-compassion. When you’re faced with less than unsavoury situations in life, you have to treat yourself the same you do a friend. Understand: What do you need right now? What words would help encourage you?
It takes time to change the way you think about yourself. However, it is possible to do that, mainly if you actively track your thought patterns. We recommend journaling to track the way you think.
Physical Touch
Fortunately,self-compassion is accessible at any given moment. One way to do this is through physical touch. While in a meeting or a conversation, you can be intentional with physical touch; for example, you can put your hand on top of your forearm. This will activate the care system.
This practice also includes mindfulness. Glean the warmth of your hand, and you can apply a little pressure—think of it as similar to the way you hold the shoulder or hand of someone who is grieving or needs support.
Take a Day off
If you’re particularly tired, stressed, undergoing and processing grief from something recent, or approaching burnout, you can take a day off. Spend the day relaxing and doing the things that make you happiest.
A day off is also suitable for you to breathe and live.
Compassion in Challenges
Most importantly, the way you tackle challenges is crucial. If your first reaction to your own mistakes and setbacks is to get angry and judge yourself, then there’s a problem.
If you didn’t do well on a task, remind yourself you tried. If there is something that you didn’t do, you have to tell yourself you can learn from experience.
Wrapping Up
Self-compassion suits those who are hard on themselves. However, we can all use a bit of it occasionally. It helps us exercise our capabilities for empathy and understanding. Moreover, it can help with our mental health.