Having self-compassion is the ability to recognise our own suffering and take action to comfort and care for ourselves. Traditionally, some may think that this is the road to complacency, but research from Kristen Neff (2011) shows us that it is the road to...
Christmas brings mixed emotions, it can be a time of joy, of people coming together, of sharing and thankfulness. However, it can also be a time of pressure, conflict and stress. Sometimes it can seem that there is that unspoken requirement that everything needs to be...
Yes, it’s my favourite topic! Those who have followed my blogs will know that compassion and self-compassion (SC) are key interests of mine. Perhaps then it is not surprising that I come back to them when the world tilts sideways and we all find ourselves in lockdown...
One starfish at a time Never before have we had to draw on our collective human strengths and resources more than now. The country is divided, we are all suffering from Brexit burnout, it seems as if community spirit is dwindling and I sense people feel angry and...
“ No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its...
The Message Cancer Research UK has recently decided to lead an awareness campaign highlighting the risk of obesity to certain types of cancer. They have in fact, plastered amongst other places, London Underground with their message, written to look like a cigarette...
I have spent a lot of my adult life being puzzled about the whole premise of this thing we call “self-esteem”. What is it actually, and how can we so easily move from having a lot of it, to not having much. It always seemed precarious, as if my appreciation of myself...
Last year, I heard this story about a little girl. She was 6 and went to a local school near her house. One day, in class, her teacher asked the children to make a drawing of a house. So she made this drawing of a beautiful purple house, with a yellow roof, a blue...
When being asked to consider questions such as “Who can you rely on?” “Who makes you feel good?” “Who is always there for your emotional needs?” we tend to picture one person in our mind immediately or handpick a few of our peers...
Self-compassion is key to my work for a number of reasons, one of them being the acknowledgment that positive psychology seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the whole breadth of the human experience. Emotions not electricity I also rarely use positive or...