Sarah and Jan tackle the surprisingly difficult practice of self-compassion — exploring why, especially under pressure, we tend to criticise ourselves rather than offer kindness, and how that inner harshness actively makes things worse. Drawing on Sarah's psychiatric experience, they make the case that deliberately nurturing the soothing system through gentle self-talk, touch, and awareness is not weakness but a biological and psychological necessity. The dialogue offers practical, personal routes into self-compassion and transitions into a guided self-compassion meditation.
Themes covered
- Why self-criticism is our default response to difficulty and what self-compassion really means
- The three inner systems - threat, doing, and soothing - and their relationship to self-compassion
- Self-compassionate language
- Creating an inner compassionate friend
- Self-compassion as the foundation for compassion toward others
