The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions 1st Edition

I won't go into a description of this book, because there are plenty of reviews that do that. What I will say is that as a psychology professor and psychotherapist, I have a few "go-to" books - books that I constantly have to replace because I end up giving them out to students or loaning them to clients. For couples, for example, it's Notarius & Markman's "We Can Work It Out." For people that need to work on mindfulness and learning to relate compassionately with themselves, this excellent book is it. I finally bought it on kindle as well just to have a copy that I could count on being able to get my hands on! Probably my favorite part about this book is the way that it uses mindfulness as a vehicle for the development of self-compassion, such that as readers move through the book, they develop both of these capacities. I can see it not appealing to some - it might be too psychological for those who prefer Thich Nhat Hahn, or not empirical enough for psychology professionals looking for empirically-validated treatment approaches supported by dozens of clinical trials...but for those who want a readable, sensitive path that is rooted in both spirituality and psychology, it is a tremendous resource. Highly recommended.

The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions by Christopher K. Germer, PhD focuses on mindfulness in a way that gently glides into self-compassion. Germer weaves his personal and professional experience using mindfulness to get to self-compassion with research into self-compassion in a way that is easy to read and makes both mindfulness and self-compassion feel approachable. He includes exercises and meditations to demonstrate the effectiveness of mindfulness on self-compassion. I really like that Germer explains that self-compassion isn't a self-help goal but a continuous journey that sometimes brings up pain while helping one to heal in a way that encourages and inspires one to pursue embracing self-compassion. The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion helped me with my own journey to strengthen my mindfulness and my self-compassion.

I had only recently heard of the concept of "self-compassion" through a blog I stumbled upon last year, and I'm trying to learn more about meditation to deal with chronic neuropathic pain and "self-compassion" as a tool to deal with depression and alcoholism. There are a few people in mind I have when reading this book, myself and others, and I was pleased how the book had a variety of case studies that included not only psychological case studies, but also other experiments and studies involving functional MRIs. The book gives actual "steps" on what you can do to practice mindfulness and self-compassion. It's not preachy, it's not sappy. It's a good how-to book with studies and stories to introduce you to "mindfulness" and self-compassion. I haven't finished reading it (I have a tendency to have several books "in progress" and bounce around according to my mood), but it's an easy read, not overly scientific nor full of medical terminology. It's for the "regular" person seeking practical ways to deal with their depression, pain, ptsd, alcoholism, grief, feelings of failure, or other deadening and self-defeating habits or battles. If you're trying to get through an exhausting mental battle, tired of not being able to function, keep "slipping back" or sick of being on medication, I recommend you read this book for practical ways to help heal yourself and be able to face daily challenges.

My therapist suggested this book to me and I'm enjoying it. It helps you take a step back

This is by far the "closest thing" I have ever come to ("in my emotional life,") which I truly feel is answering my deepest questions for why I have not been able to overcome my "multi-faceted" anxieties. The approach is entirely new to me and comes from a completely different angle (quite the opposite actually) from my self-critical approach. The heart of this book for me personally has much to do with seeing and feeling (and allowing with softness and kind loving awareness) the suffering I "endured" as a young child. The solution Christopher write about has been for me (for us) to love that hurt little boy and to accept that there were causes -- which in my case had to do with my mother (God bless her) who was in many ways unavailable to me physically and emotionally -- and who was quite opinionated and critical of others. I now see my anger clearly in my body (when it is revisited) and how I am now more able to accept it with a self-loving and compassionate attitude. I highly recommend this book as a tool for many people who suffer from childhood trauma whether it be slight or deep.

This book has brought me so many answers as to how to cope with day to day living, they're beyond counting. When I get to the end, I start over and begin again. I'm reading it for the third time and the pages are wrinkly from all the highlighting. :-) You don't have to be religious to benefit, and you can also benefit if you ARE religious - because it's not about religion, it's about living centered and sane. I'm really getting in touch with the reality that when I'm centered and sane within, my external world gets more centered and sane. Maybe the world hasn't changed at all but I'm simply seeing it differently - that's OK with me, all I know is that I feel better.If there's something you're having trouble coping with, or if you just have this undercurrent of feeling a little nuts all the time, check this out. And keep a highlighter handy.