Kathleen Cator is a clinical psychologist and former nurse with over 20 years' experience as a health professional. Kathleen leads self-compassion and mindfulness based training and therapies in public, education, and health care settings.

Self-compassion is about treating yourself during difficult or challenging times as you would a good friend - with kindness, understanding and encouragement. While it's easy to believe that by being critical of your faults and failings you are more likely to be motivated to make changes, however this has actually been found to undermine your progress. However, when you practice self-compassion you are more likely to learn from your mistakes, and improve your motivation, performance, and wellbeing.

Connect with Kathleen Cator

Website: http://mettahp.com.au/

You'll Learn:

• [01:24] - Kathleen explains how you can use the same principles of showing compassion to others, to be compassionate to yourself.
• [02:43] – Research has found that self-compassion improves your emotional and physical wellbeing, your relationships, and can help you make positive changes.
• [06:45] - Your brain has evolved to make you safe, and so focuses on possible threats. You can use mindfulness to choose a more self-compassionate response.
• [07:48] - Kathleen describes the three steps in practicing self-compassion.
• [09:50] - Kathleen shares some simple self-compassion practices that you can try in the workplace.
• [12:44] - Kathleen explains the relationship between self-compassion and mindfulness.
• [14:23] - Kathleen discusses how leaders can encourage the practice of self-compassion.
• [15:54] – Kathleen raises the challenges of introducing self-compassion into workplaces.
• [17:03] - The Lightning Round with Kathleen Cator

Your Resources:

The Museum of Modern Love - by Heather RoseMetta Learning Tools

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for joining me again this week. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

Also, please leave an honest review for the Making Positive Psychology Work Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them.

And finally, don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes to get automatic updates. It's free!

Special thanks to Kathleen for joining me this week. Until next time, take care!