Being Well With Dr. Rick Hanson

We all have a negative voice that lives inside our heads, and it’s very challenging to perform at our best when we’re not kind and supportive of ourselves. Dr. Hanson and I began our book Resilient with a chapter dedicated to compassion, and particularly self-compassion. It’s the fundamental building block on which our personal growth rests. On this episode, Dr. Hanson and I are joined by one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion, Dr. Kristin Neff. Dr. Neff is the Associate Professor of Human Development and Culture in the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin, and she was the first to operationally define and measure the construct over a decade ago. In addition to her pioneering research into self-compassion, she’s developed a program to teach self-compassion skills in daily life, co-created with her colleague Dr. Chris Germer. In the first part of our conversation, we explore the nature of self-compassion, including why it's such an essential skill for personal g