Being kind to yourself, seeing your self as having normal human imperfections and being mindfully aware form the basis of self compassion. Self compassion is a much more helpful quality to develop than self esteem.

Self esteem development programs have been spectacularly unsuccessful. Moreover high self esteem is not necessarily a positive quality. A person can cultivate high self esteem by deluding themselves about their abilities and by being disdainful of others – hardly desirable qualities. In fact the emphasis on self esteem has been attributed as a significant contributing factor to the recent narcissism epidemic in Western countries.

In contrast sef compassion makes it easier for us to be honest with ourselves and to treat others well. Kristin Neff is a psychologist from Texas who has been researching self compassion for a number of years. She has written a very readable book on the subject.

It has the lovely title:

“Stop Beating up on Yourself and Leave Insecurity Behind – Self Compassion.”

Her website is http://www.self-compassion.org

LOVE without COURAGE and WISDOM is sentimentality,
as with the ordinary church member.

COURAGE without LOVE and WISDOM is foolhardiness,
as with the ordinary soldier.

WISDOM without LOVE and COURAGE is cowardice,
as with the ordinary intellectual.

Therefore one with LOVE, COURAGE, and WISDOM
is one in a million who moves the world,
as with JESUS, BUDDHA, and GANDHI.

Hi everyone.

This is a blog where I will share information, resources  and reflections on topics related to my professional interests.  These come under the headings of Mindfulness, Systemic and family constellations and Psychiatry.  I have a great deal of respect for scientific method while also being aware of its limitations. Accordingly, while  I am open minded to new developments in these fields I look for data that confirms or denies the validity of new developments. I am also interested in the philosophy, poetry and narrative of human existence. It reaches places that science can’t. This sort of material will also be represented on this blog. I plan to keep posts brief and informative with links to further information.

This will be integrated with my websites:

www.constellationflow which is dedicated to family and systemic constellations

www.mindfulness.org.au which is dedicated to mindfulness/meditation

and www.cwalsh.com.au which is dedicated to my general psychiatry practice

Happy browsing

Cheers

Chris Walsh