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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 39

and self-blaming, their ratings
correlated highly with how they
related to their patients.

It’s just as the wise monk from
London taught me years ago: What
we practice becomes stronger. If
you think about it, we are relating
to ourselves 24 hours a day—we
are practicing this way of relating
constantly. So if mindfulness
truly does, as I believe, involve
a kind, open, curious attitude
toward yourself, it builds the
self-compassion that helps foster
compassion toward others. That’s
why I tell my students, “Cultivate
Self-compassion in health care understand the precise elements self-compassion—do it for your
professionals. More recently, we and active ingredients essential to future patients!”
examined the impact of mindfulness mindfulness training.
training on counseling psychology I think it is important to clarify,
students and discovered that Although there is not much however, that self-compassion
it significantly increased self- research focused specifically on doesn’t mean we are always filled
compassion—which, in turn, led how mindfulness helps us cultivate with happiness and lovingkindness.
to declines in stress and negative compassion and empathy, I can Simply put, what it means is
emotion and increases in positive offer some ideas, based on my that our awareness of what’s
emotion. years of research and practice and happening is always kind, always
discussions with other experienced compassionate. So even if I’m
Basically, the research shows meditators. feeling angry or frustrated, I am
that mindfulness increases embracing my experience with
empathy and compassion for First, as I explain above, I believe a compassionate awareness.
others and for oneself, and that truly practicing mindfulness helps When we begin to welcome our
such attitudes are good for you. us learn how to become more experience in this way, we are
To me, that affirms that when compassionate toward ourselves— better able to be with it, see it
we practice mindfulness, we are which, evidence suggests, is clearly, and respond appropriately
simultaneously strengthening our intertwined with being more to it—and, research suggests, we’ll
skills of compassion—evidence compassionate toward others. be strengthening the skills that
that mindfulness isn’t simply about One study I often cite, especially help us extend compassion toward
sharpening attention. when teaching psychotherapists others.
and students who are training to
Yet what we don’t know is become therapists, demonstrates In this way, I like to think of
precisely how mindfulness produces that how we treat ourselves is mindfulness as a big cooking pot. I
these positive effects. Answering highly correlated with how we treat put all of my experiences into this
this question is an important others: When therapists rated how pot. This pot is always kind, always
next step for future research and compassionate they were with welcoming, even if the stuff I put
exploration, so that we can better themselves versus how critical into it is not (e.g., anger, sadness,