Kristin Neff, an Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, focuses on self-compassion and its crucial role in well-being. She discusses how self-criticism hampers progress and how treating ourselves with kindness fosters resilience and motivation. The conversation dives into overcoming challenges like divorce with a compassionate mindset, and how this approach can alleviate the fear of failure. Neff emphasizes the importance of a supportive inner dialogue, especially when setting New Year's resolutions, promoting a healthier path to personal growth.
We often start a new year hoping to make big changes in how we look, feel or act. This can involve a lot of self-criticism and adopting things like tough diets and brutal exercise regimes. But being hard on ourselves doesn't deliver results.
Dr Laurie Santos examines why being a nasty drill sergeant to ourselves is less effective than being a kind coach; and hears from researcher and author Kristin Neff about why developing self-compassion is vital to helping us achieve our new year goals.