Have you ever noticed what you tell yourself about yourself? When you tune into the messages playing on repeat in your mind, you might notice they’re not very nice. Getting stuck in patterns of doubt, negativity, and defeatism leads to a host of wellbeing problems. When you harness the power of self-compassion, however, you open the door to better health and wellbeing.
Builds resilience
Offering yourself kindness and unconditional positive regard will help you harness the power of self-compassion. When you make a mistake and choose to move past it, you improve your ability to bounce back from future faux pas or shortcomings. Making mistakes is inevitable. When you choose to forgive yourself quickly and keep moving forward you build resilience. You bounce back more easily from the normal ups and downs of life and your emotional wellbeing gets that much stronger. You move from surviving to thriving.
Reduces stress
The power of self-compassion is also felt when you experience less stress and its accompanying side-effects. With more positivity and better self-regard, you are less prone to absorb the negative consequences of stress, like chronic back pain, poor sleep, or ruminating thoughts. By changing the way you talk to yourself and swapping negative messages to positive ones, you overcome chronic stress and anxiety. Improvements to your physical and emotional wellbeing can be significant.
Unleashes a growth mindset
Self-compassion allows you to see yourself more accurately. You can observe and celebrate your strengths and recognize your weaknesses without judgment. When you get to this more equitable place of personal assessment, the power of self-compassion is seen in the growth mindset that accompanies this new view of self. Opportunities to advance in your career and be recognized as a valued employee increase with this mindset. Your career wellbeing improves.
Promotes better self-care
People who practice self-compassion eat better, see the doctor more, exercise, practice safe sex, and follow other health and self-care guidance. Self-compassion helps people forgo short-term gains for longer-term results because they recognize that their choices now make a difference down the road. The power of self-compassion is evidenced through improvements in both short and long-term physical health.
Improves mental health
With a positive view of self, depression and anxiety are kept in check. Additional improvements in mental health are strong evidence of the power of self-compassion. A study relayed by Nir and Far found that an individual’s level of self-compassion had a greater effect on whether they would develop anxiety and depression than all the other things that have an impact on people’s lives, like traumatic life events, a family history of mental illness, low social status, loneliness, or lack of social support.
Your mindset matters. Noticing what’s happening in your brain day after day is the first step to turning criticism into compassion. The benefits will improve your holistic health and wellbeing. As you harness the power of self-compassion you build resilience, reduce stress, unleash a growth mindset, practice better self-care, and improve mental health.