Want to be kinder to yourself? To make self compassion come more naturally and easily? Then here’s 5 smart yet simple acts of self compassion you need to do daily.
What Is Self Compassion?
Self compassion is the ability to be kind, understanding and (well, compassionate) towards yourself – particularly through times of suffering, “failure” or when you experience feelings of low self-esteem or inadequacy.
Why Is Self Compassion So Important?
Self-compassion is one of the most powerful components of building emotional resilience. It gives you the power to battle your inner critic and destroy negative self-talk.
This means that no matter what happens, no matter what you’re going through – you’re able to better deal with it.
You really are your own best friend (as cliche as this sounds) and brings immense power.
In fact, research indicates that self-compassion is strongly associated with psychological well-being. Higher levels of self-compassion are linked to increased feelings of happiness, optimism, curiosity and connectedness, as well as decreased anxiety, depression, rumination and fear of failure.
The effects of all of these things lead not only to a happier life, but happier, healthier relationships – both with yourself and others, too.
5 Simple Acts of Self Compassion (You Need To Do Daily!)
So, what can you do? What should you do, even, if you’re truly committed to improving the level of self compassion you have for yourself?
Well my friends, it’s really quite simple! Follow these 5 simple acts of self compassion daily, and you’ll notice the difference in no time. 🫶
See when it comes to habits that build self compassion, you want to make time to…
1) Give Yourself a Hug
It sounds silly if you’ve never done it before, but hear me out here. In fact, why not try it now?
Without worrying what you look like, wrap your arms around yourself, close your eyes, and feel the connection with yourself – your true self.
Feel the sense of calm, the sense of peace. Forget anything else going on in the world around you, or in your world, right now, and just focus on comforting yourself, holding yourself.
Once you’ve practiced this consistently, you can actually anchor yourself to trigger the same feelings simply by rubbing your shoulder or arm. It’s incredibly powerful – and helpful too, as it means you can subtly do it – even when you’re out and about in public.
See, hugging releases the hormone oxytocin, which is a feel-good hormone that instantly makes us feel better.
So, when you catch yourself either judging or criticising yourself, stop, break the cycle, and instead – give yourself a hug.
(Trust me, it works. You just need to practice it daily in order to really see the full effects!)
2) Hold Your Hand To Your Heart
Another similar self compassion exercise is to hold your hand to your heart and take a moment to yourself to simply re-connect.
Again, this is usually easier to do when you close your eyes and clear your mind.
If you feel thoughts coming back and overwhelming, simply take a deep breath, focus on your breath, and visualise watching your thoughts and worries, float by, like clouds in the sky.
The purpose of the hand on heart exercise is to get back to what really matters – which is YOU. It stops you acting, and pulls you right back to yourself, at your core.
You feel better connected to yourself when you put your hand on your heart and act from a place in your heart.
Once your mind is calmed and cleared, try speaking calming, loving words to yourself – saying the things you know you need to hear, but deep down, also do believe.
Speaking of which, this leads onto one of our next acts of self compassion…
3) Self Soothing Words
Self-soothing is an emotional regulation strategy used to regain equilibrium and the great thing is – it’s one of the simplest acts of self-compassion.
All you have to do is make it a HABIT and be able to recognise the moments in which you need some self-soothing words.
Self soothing words are simply the words you need to hear. And hey, I know that can be hard. But ask yourself:
- What would I say to my best friend, or someone I deeply love, if they were in this situation right now, or feeling this way right now?
- What is another, more positive way to look at this? A more empowering way to look at this?
- What do I need to remind myself in all of this?
See it’s more than simple words of affirmations (although they can be helpful too.)
Every single day, we have thousands of thoughts running through our head (on average, 60,000 thoughts a day, to be exact!) But not all these thoughts are accurate or true…
By offering yourself self soothing words, you’re able to open your heart and eyes to a different perspective – a more self compassionate way of looking at things.
It’s a total game-changer, helping you in every and all areas of your life (if you allow it to.)
4) Guided Self Compassion Meditation
Now, if you find self soothing difficult, why not opt for one of our other acts of self compassion first, to help to ease you into it?
Guided self compassion meditations can prompt your thoughts in the way they need to go and say comforting words you need to hear, in the moments you’re struggling to say it yourself.
Self compassion meditation also helps you to make space between yourself and your thoughts or feelings. It helps you stop your negative talk from spiralling and instead – re-sets you.
With practice, guided self compassion meditations can help you to learn to reject your negative conditioning entirely.
But it does, of course take time, which is why we recommend doing it daily initially.
5) Thought Challenging Diary
Last but not least, that leads us onto our final of the 5 daily acts of self compassion, which is to use a thought challenging diary.
Now, in time, you may not actually need to write it down. But initially, it makes it far easier and more effective.
See, when you’re feeling negative emotions, you want to get into the habit of getting your thoughts OUT your head and instead – onto paper.
Write it all out in a diary. Write it and feel yourself releasing your emotions with it.
Once you’re done, take a deep breath and one by one, start to circle the negative thoughts that are fuelling the negative ways in which you’re feeling.
Identify them in your diary – then challenge them, writing out the reasons why, actually, they may not be 100% fair, accurate or true.
Write it as if you were responding to your best friend or loved one writing it.
You can do this as many times as you need, for as long as you need, throughout the day. It’s an incredibly proactive and powerful act of self compassion.
That’s All For This One
So there we have it – that rounds up our 5 (simple yet essential) acts of self compassion you need to do daily, to change the way you think, feel and behave towards yourself – in a positive way.
I hope you’ve found this valuable. Remember – knowledge is nothing without action. So don’t simply read it – make sure you actually do it, my friends.
Take this on as a challenge for the next 30 days.
Wishing you the very best of luck. 🫶
Love,
Ell_xx
