Focusing Compassion On Your Self
Focusing Compassion On Yourself is an exercise taken from the Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection. There are three ‘flows’ of compassion: having compassion for others, receiving compassion from others, and having compassion for yourself. In this exercise, the listener is guided to imagine giving themselves compassion from the perspective of their compassionate self.
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Audio track (MP3)
A therapy audio track designed for skills development.
Audio script (PDF)
The script for a therapy audio track. Read along with an exercise, or record in your own voice.
Description
There are three ‘flows’ of compassion: having compassion for others, receiving compassion from others, and having compassion for yourself. These flows are not all the same, and some people may find one flow easy and yet struggle with others. Practicing each of the flows of compassion can develop and strengthen our compassionate minds, and can helps us to understand more about our fears and blocks to compassion. Doing compassionate mind training exercises has also been shown to measurably reduce distress, shame, and self-criticism, as well as increasing wellbeing and happiness.
Focusing Compassion On Yourself is an exercise taken from the Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection. Research has shown that people who are compassionate with themselves tend to have better relationships with others, take better care of their physical health, and take more responsibility for things when life is tough. Unfortunately, some people find it much harder to direct compassion towards themselves than toward others. Whilst many of the exercises in this collection focus on developing the listener’s compassionate self, it is important to also practice directing that compassion to towards oneself, and that is the focus of this exercise. The listener first adopts the persona of their compassionate self, then imagines seeing themselves, and offering themselves compassion.
Instructions
The Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection is for anyone who wants to learn more about the ideas and practices of compassion focused therapy. It has been designed to be versatile, so it is suitable to support work with therapists who have been trained in compassion focused therapy, or to be used as a stand-alone collection of exercises. To assist the integration of the exercises into their clinical work, therapists can download the scripts for each exercise and use them in-session.
Individual tracks from the audio collection can be downloaded as .MP3 files, which can be played in most media player apps.
The simplest way to share an audio track with your clients is by using the Psychology Tools ‘Email a client’ function. After obtaining their consent, you can send it directly from this page by clicking ‘Send securely to my client’. Your client will receive a secure email containing a unique link, and when they click the link, they will be prompted to download the .MP3 file onto their device.
References
- Gilbert, P. (2014). The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 6-41.
- Gilbert, P. (2020). Compassion: From its evolution to a psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology, 3123.
- Irons, C., & Beaumont, E. (2017). The compassionate mind workbook: A step-by-step guide to developing your compassionate self. Robinson.
- Irons, C., & Heriot‐Maitland, C. (2021). Compassionate Mind Training: An 8‐week group for the general public. Psychology and psychotherapy: Theory, research and practice, 94(3), 443-463.
- Leboeuf, I., Andreotti, E., Irons, C., Beaumont, E., & Antoine, P. (2022). A randomized controlled study of a French compassionate mind training. Mindfulness, 13(11), 2891-2903.
- Savari, Y., Mohagheghi, H., & Petrocchi, N. (2021). A preliminary investigation on the effectiveness of compassionate mind training for students with major depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Mindfulness, 12(5), 1159-1172.