Self-compassion: most important life skill?

Saner Living Guru (Chris Wucherer, AnnArbor.com/LiveScience.com)

One of the more frequent themes for my clients is the ability to be harsh on themselves. I've got a touch of it myself, in certain areas, as do all human beings. The feeling of not being good enough, smart enough, thin enough, rich enough, and so on, is as common as ants at a picnic, ready to devour the feast set out.

Not holding oneself in high esteem is like a virus spreading its tendrils throughout one's spirit and soul. Sometimes you may be cruising through life, feeling good, when the yucky low self-esteem virus knocks on the door of good feelings.

For some people, low self-esteem is like an unwanted relative who has decided to make camp in their home, uninvited and unwanted for an unspecified period of time. It covers them like an old worn overcoat laying thick and heavy on their spirits.

Recently, I came across this article on self-compassion in LiveScience, which notes that, "psychologists are finding that self-compassion may be the most important life skill, imparting resilience, courage, energy, and creativity." More

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