Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris - Bonus Meditation, Self-Compassion Break, Kristin Neff, PhD

Episode Date: October 19, 2019

Self-compassion may not be your strong suit, but with this introductory training, you’ll develop more resilience, kindness, and ease in life. Plug Zone https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/#guided-meditations See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It kind of blows my mind to consider the fact that we're up to nearly 600 episodes of this podcast, the 10% happier podcast. That's a lot of conversations. I like to think of it as a great compendium of, and I know this is a bit of a grandiose term, but wisdom. The only downside of having this vast library of audio is that it can be hard to know where to start. So we're launching a new feature here, playlists, just like you put together a playlist of your favorite songs.

Back in the day, we used to call those mix tapes. Just like you do that with music, you can do it with podcasts. So if you're looking for episodes about anxiety, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes. Or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist of all of our anxiety episodes, or if you're looking for how to sleep better, we've got a playlist for that. We've even put together a playlist of some of my personal favorite episodes. That was a hard list to make. Check out our playlists at 10%.com slash playlist. That's 10% all one word spelled out..com slash playlist singular.

Let us know what you think. We're always open to tweaking how we do things and maybe there's a playlist we haven't thought of. Hit me up on Twitter or submit a comment through the website. Hey y'all, it's your girl, Kiki Palmer. I'm an actress, singer, and entrepreneur. I'm a new podcast, baby, this is Kiki Palmer. I'm asking friends, family, and experts,

the questions that are in my head. Like, it's only fans only bad. Where did memes come from? And where's Tom from MySpace? Listen to Baby, this is Kiki Palmer on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcast. This practice is called the self-compassion break and it's something you can do anytime during the day or at night when you need a little self-compassion. So to practice this exercise we actually need to call up a little suffering.

So I invite you to think about a situation in your life right now that is difficult for you. Maybe you're feeling stress or you're having a relationship problem or you're worried about something that might happen. I invite you to think of something that is difficult but not overwhelmingly difficult, especially if you're new to practicing the self-compassion break. practicing the self-compassion break. So finding a situation and getting in touch with it, what's going on, what happened,

or what might happen, who said, what really bring the situation to life in your mind's eye? really bring the situation to life in your mind's eye. And then I'm going to be saying a series of phrases that are designed to help us remember the three components of self-compassion when we need it most. So the first phrase is, this is a moment of suffering. Right? We're bringing mindful awareness to the fact that suffering is present. And I'd invite you to find some language that speaks to you, something like, this is really hard right now, or I'm really struggling,

we're actually turning toward our difficulty, acknowledging it, naming it. This is the moment of suffering. This is the moment of suffering. The second phrase is suffering is a part of life. We're reminding ourselves of our common humanity. Suffering is a part of life. And again finding language that speaks to you, it may be something like, it's not

a normal to feel this way. Many people are going through similar situations. Right, the degree of suffering may be different, the flavor of suffering may be different, that suffering is a part of life, a part of being human. And then the third phrase is, may I be kind to myself in this moment. And to support bringing kindness to yourself, I'd invite you to perhaps put your hands over your heart or some other place on your body that feels soothing andting, feeling the warmth of your hands, the gentle touch, letting those feelings of care stream through your fingers. May I be kind to myself. And using any language that supports that sense of kindness.

Perhaps language you would use with a good friend you cared about who was going through a very similar situation. You know, it may be something like, I'm here for you. It's going to be okay. I care about you. You can even try using a diminutive if that feels comfortable. You know, darling, I'm so sorry. Or you can try calling yourself by your first name. Anything that feels natural to express your deep wish.

That you be well and happy and free from suffering. And then letting go of the practice and noticing how your body feels right now. Allowing any sensations to be just as they are, allowing yourself to be just as you are in this moment. Hey, hey, prime members. You can listen to 10% happier early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Or you can listen early and add free with 1-3-plus in Apple Podcasts.

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Hosted by myself, Megan Galey, Chris Garcia, and Kurt Brown-Oller, we will be your resident not-so-expert experts. Megan Galey, Chris Garcia, and Kurt Brown all are, we will be your resident not so expert experts. Each week we'll share a parenting story that'll have you laughing, nodding, and thinking. Oh yeah, I have absolutely been there. We'll talk about what went right and wrong. What would we do differently? And the next time you step on yet another stray Lego in the middle of the night, you'll

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