This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hello everybody how we doing how we doing

how we doing today we've got a scientist who is going to thoroughly

dismantle the widely held belief, one that you may harbor yourself, that the

only way to succeed is to kick your own ass.

One of the many things I like about Dr. Serena Chen,

who's a professor of psychology at the University of California

at Berkeley, is that she initially approached self-compassion quite skeptically.

She is now, however, one of the leading researchers in the field,

and in this conversation we talk about the definition of self-compassion,

the difference between self-compassion and

self-esteem, the studies that show that self-compassion leads to more desire for self-improvement

and increased authenticity. And she lays out some self-compassion exercises that you can easily fit into your daily life.

Self-compassion has been huge for me personally in my own life it's actually a major focus

of the book I've spent many many years working on which hopefully will come out

next year so anyway this is a subject that's very important to me I approached it with a lot

of skepticism but I'm now a full-on convert let me just say before we dive in this is

the first part in a week-long series we're doing here on the show on self-compassion coming up on Wednesday.

We're going to talk to a great meditation, Darma teacher Afosu Jones-Corte, about how to rewire your inner dialogue. But today it's Dr. Serena Chen and she is

coming right up. But first a little BSP, blatant self-promotion, two little things to tell you about, then one big thing.

First little thing, if you go to Dan Harris.com, my new website.

There's a merch store up where you can get 10% happier t-shirts and sweatshirts and a tote bag.

Also if you go to Dan Harris.com you can sign up for my new newsletter

...