Rainy days don’t just happen on the outside. If you need a quick pick-me-up this week, here are 20 quotes on self-compassion that will inspire a deeper sense of self-acceptance and peace:
1. “Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship with myself.” —Nathaniel Branden, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
2. “To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”
―E.E. Cummings
3. “Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”
—Christopher Germer, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion
4. “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
—Henry Thoreau, Walden
5. “You’ve been criticising yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
—Louise L. Hay, You Can Heal Your Life
6. “The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
—Carl Jung
7. “Our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
―Rumi
8. “Being human is not about being any one particular way; it is about being as life creates you—with your own particular strengths and weaknesses, gifts and challenges, quirks and oddities.”
―Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind
9. “Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
―Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
10. “Feeling compassion for ourselves in no way releases us from responsibility for our actions. Rather, it releases us from the self-hatred that prevents us from responding to our life with clarity and balance.”
—Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance
11. “When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs, and habits – anything that kept me small. Now I see it as self-loving.”
―Kim McMillen, When I Loved Myself Enough
12. “Compassion isn’t some kind of self-improvement project or ideal that we’re trying to live up to. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don’t even want to look at.”
—Pema Chodron
13. “An important aspect of self-compassion is to be able to empathically hold both parts of ourselves–the self that regrets a past action and the self that took the action in the first place.”
—Marshall Rosenberg, Non-Violent Communication
14. “There’s no amount of self improvement that can make up for a lack of self acceptance.”
—Robert Holden
15. “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.”
—Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
16. “Most unhappy people need to learn just one lesson: how to see themselves through the lens of genuine compassion and treat themselves accordingly.” —Martha Beck
17. “You can have compassion for yourself-which is not self-pity. You’re simply recognizing that ‘this is tough, this hurts,’ and bringing the same warmhearted wish for suffering to lessen or end that you would bring to any dear friend grappling with the same pain, upset, or challenges as you.”
—Rick Hanson, Just One Thing
18. “Self-care is not selfish or self-indulgent. We cannot nurture others from a dry well. We need to take care of our own needs first, so that we can give from our surplus, our abundance. When we nurture others from a place of fullness, we feel renewed instead of taken advantage of.”
—Jennifer Louden, The Woman’s Comfort Book
19. “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”
—Steve Furtick
20. “When you say ‘Yes’ to others make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to yourself.” —Paulo Cohelo
What are your favourite quotes on self-compassion? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!
Further reading: Why I don’t talk about self-love & how to stay optimistic when bad things happen
Image: Matthew Wiebe via Unsplash
