Silencing the inner critic: the power of Self-compassion

Don’t beat yourself up for beating yourself up in the hope that it will help you stop beating yourself up. It is often much more effective to take a step back and give your inner critic some space. It also helps to realise that it, in an ineffective and counterproductive way, tries to help.

For animals and our hunter-gather ancestors our threat defence system works good. With danger the fight, flight and freeze sets in motions and helps to survive. However for us modern humans this system makes it often worse. When our self-image is under siege we react as if our very existence is under attack. It’s double harmful when we criticize ourselves, as we are both the attacker and the attacked. This kind of chronic stress can lead to anxiety and depression, undermining our physical and emotional wellbeing.

The power of Self-compassion

You learn through Self-compassion, thé new development within Mindfulness, how to let go of these feelings and to take better care of ourselves and others. It also enables us to reduce stress and anxiety, to simply be happier and understand why punishing ourselves doesn’t work.

Free introductory meeting

In a introductory meeting it often becomes clear if an individual or a group approach suits you best. In this interview, we look among other things at the causes behind the problem and try to get your main question clear. You will get the opportunity to see if my approach appeals to you. If that is the case, we will jointly see how many sessions are desirable and we will make a follow-up appointment.

“compassion for others begins with kindness to ourselves” 

Pema Chodron