Treat Yourself With Compassion

• Notice what you believe about self-compassion. What do you think would happen if you were self-compassionate? What would happen if you let go of harsh self-criticism?
• Notice how you talk to yourself. Is your self-talk negative? Do you hold yourself...

Particularly in the West, people have adopted a propensity for self-criticism as a cultural value, and tend to self-punish when dealing with setbacks and failures, she says. But excessive self-criticism gets in the way of achieving your goals. 

There are three parts to practicing se...

Using self-compassion to deal with emotions can calm the emotional and physical stress that fuels unhealthy eating behavior:

• Self-directed kindness can ease the flight-or-fight response by activating the soothing part of the brain.
• Once the body relaxes, the to...