Happiness Break: A Self-Compassion Meditation For Burnout

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Feeling burned out? Join Dr. Kristen Neff as she guides us through a calming practice to bring kindness and support to ourselves during tough times.

How to Do This Practice:

Sit in a quiet, comfortable space, close your eyes if you wish, and take deep breaths to center yourself.
Observe how you’re feeling—physically and emotionally—without judgment.
Acknowledge your struggle: This is hard. Burnout is a natural human response to stress.
Offer yourself kindness. Imagine a compassionate voice saying: I’m here for you, you’re doing your best, you’re loved just as you are.
Let these words fill you with warmth and calm.
When ready, open your eyes and bring this renewed energy into your day.

Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

Dr. Kristin Neff is an associate professor in the University of Texas at Austin's department of educational psychology. She's also the co-author of 'Mindful Self-Compassion for Burnout,' which offers tools to help individuals heal and recharge from burnout.

More Happiness Breaks like this one:

The Healing Power of Your Own Touch: https://tinyurl.com/y4ze59h8

Take a Break With Our Loving-Kindness Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/2kr4fjz5

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/485y3b4y

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Happiness Break. I'm Dacker Keltner.
0:06.0	Burnout is something so many of us deal with these days, feeling drained, disconnected from work, exhausted.
0:14.0	But here's the good news. Self-compassion can help. Research shows that treating yourself with kindness and support when you're struggling
0:22.9	can make a real difference. It not only helps prevent burnout, but it also makes it easier to
0:28.7	recover when you're feeling worn out. So today, Dr. Kristen Neff will be guiding you through
0:34.1	a self-compassion practice to help with recovery and renewal.
0:38.4	Kristen's life's work is the study and teaching
0:42.5	of self-compassion.
0:44.0	And she's the co-author of mindful self-compassion
0:47.0	for burnout, tools to help you heal and recharge
0:50.5	when you're wrung out by stress.
0:53.1	When you're ready, here's Kristen.
1:00.4	Self-compassion refers to the way that we show up for ourselves
1:04.7	when we're struggling, when we're suffering in some way.
1:08.1	And my research shows that when we can be with ourselves
1:11.4	in times of difficulty with warmth and support,
1:15.5	remembering that we aren't alone, that it's only human to struggle,
1:19.1	that our mental health vastly improves,
1:21.6	we're less depressed, we're less anxious.
1:24.5	And actually, there's a whole other body of research
1:26.7	that shows that self-compassion increases
1:29.2	physical well-being, like immune system function.
	...

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