Best 4 quotes of Kristin Neff on MyQuotes

Compassion is, by definition, relational. Compassion literally means 'to suffer with,' which implies a basic mutuality in the experience of suffering. The emotion of compassion springs from the recognition that the human experience is imperfect.

Despite the fact we give hurricanes names like Katrina and Rita, a hurricane isn't a self-contained unit. A hurricane is an impermanent, ever-changing phenomenon arising out of a particular set of interacting conditions - air pressure, ground temperature, humidity, wind and so on. The same applies to us: we aren't self-contained units either. Like weather patterns, we are also an impermanent, ever-changing phenomenon arising out of a particular set of interacting conditions. Without food, water, air and shelter, we'd be dead. Without our genes, family, friends, social history, and culture, wouldn't act or feel as we do.

The natural response of children who are being verbally pummeled is to protect themselves, and sometimes the surest means of defense is to have nothing to attack. In other words, children start to believe that self-criticism will prevent them from making future mistakes, thereby circumventing others’ criticism. At the very least, they can blunt the force of others’ criticism by making it redundant. A verbal assault doesn’t have quite the same power when it merely repeats what you’ve already said to yourself.

This is a moment of suffering. Suffering is part of life. May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I give myself the compassion I need.