The meaning of compassion is to recognize the suffering of others and to extend concern for their well-being. You likely don’t have to dig around too much to find compassion for those you care for.

Now, imagine you are standing in front of a mirror. How easy is it to turn towards yourself with this same kindness, love and compassion in your toughest feelings, imperfections, failures, mistakes, illness and trauma? Is this uncomfortable for you? Are you curious what this might do to improve your mental health and well-being?

Good and good! Because, if you aren’t uncomfortable you aren’t growing and if you aren’t curious you will block your opportunities to change ……#truthbomb.

Self-compassion shows up as a determination to understand yourself. It is an act of holding yourself, noticing your feelings, your stories, and meeting your needs of love, acceptance and worthiness.

So this month I’m showering you with all things compassion. An obstacle to cure if I ever saw one, and yet the most powerful medicine that will heal you most profoundly and immediately.

February Wellness Toolkit

February 2021

Enjoy this months’ collection of curated resources filled with practical ideas and
actions you can take to heal mind and body Try just one, or dive into them all.
How you use these resources is completely up to you..

1. The best self-care is self-compassion

The beliefs and feelings you have about yourself are critical to your mental health and well-being. These thoughts inform how you choose to treat yourself – the results being self-care or self-sabotage. As you develop the ability to see and hold yourself with compassion, you are taking the lead for your well-being, and developing the self-trust and agency to choose the habits and actions that make you feel good. Give yourself credit for how far you’ve come in life!

2. Book

Radical Compassion: Learning to Love Yourself and Your World with the Practice of RAIN by Tara Brach

A magical masterpiece with easy to learn steps to make self-compassion part of your self-care. This book is for you if you want a DIY approach to free yourself from fear, shame and negative self-beliefs and return to a state of love, forgiveness and self-care – what we are each capable of. The practice of RAIN is grounded in brain science and ancient wisdom and can be easily integrated into your mindfulness practice.

I am obsessed with kundalini yoga. The technology of the breath practices and postures will grow you nerves of steel, and a neutral mind. The calm heart meditation is one of my favourites that I return to again and again for grounding and centering myself into a loving state of self-care. When you click the link above scroll down to Module 2.

One tool that will help you get deliberate about your self-compassion is Dr. Kristin Neff’s Self Compassion Scale. It is a short test that measures the elements of self-compassion – Self-Kindness, Common Humanity and Mindfulness. Where are you strong and what needs your attention? Use this tool to understand where you are at and steps you can take to create a stronger connection to compassion. This scale helped me to see that while I’m strong in common humanity and mindfulness, self-kindness needs my attention.

5. Video: What can self-compassion do for your child?

Self-compassion is a skill that will help your child be kinder to themselves in the face of failure and difficulties. It is vital that we help our children learn to treat themselves with kindness when the nervous system is growing and developing. Imperfections, rough days, mistakes, being at fault and failures are a part of being human and the better we are at accepting this, the easier it is to preserve our well-being through these challenges. Please watch this video with Dr. Jen Forristal, ND, creator of the Umbrella Project as she discusses the importance of self-compassion for children.