Podcast Episode 15: Cultivating Compassion as an act of Radical Self-Care

In this episode of The Steward Project podcast, we're exploring the cultivation of compassion as an act of Radical self-care.

Compassion is the foundation of a Radical Self-Care practice. Without self-compassion, we may not believe that we need or are worthy of the same care we give to others. We may feel that self-care is selfish or a luxury. But what we are seeing now is an epidemic of compassion fatigue and burn-out of helpers, healers and change-makers. If we want to mitigate burn-out, we must cultivate a practice of self-compassion.

Compassion means "to have concern for the suffering of others". The root words are COM (with) and PASSION (suffering) and the Latin origin word "compati" means "to suffer with". In order to sit with the suffering of others, we must have compassion for them...and in order to sit with the suffering of others without becoming overwhelmed by them, we MUST have self-compassion. Self-compassion allows us to see life from a different perspective, to commit to deep, courageous self-care practices, to prioritize rest and time off, and allows us the space (time & energy) to be with others' suffering while also tending to our own.

Toward the goal of Cultivating Compassion, I'd also like to invite you to a yoga & sound healing retreat April 15-19, 2019 in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. We will be cultivating compassion through a daily practices of yoga, meditation, sound healing and restorative yoga.

For more information, visit https://www.radical-tendencies.com/retreat.

A few things I highlight in this episode are:

Self-Compassion is the foundation of a Radical Self-Care Practice.
We cannot control the amount of "salt" in our lives, but we can expand our container to be able to accept any amount of salt without being impacted by it.
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristen Neff
Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg