Five Tips for Self-Compassion

Recently, Elizabeth Rohr, Rackham’s well-being advocate, was featured on the Break Away Leadership Podcast, hosted by Barger Leadership Institute academic program manager Fatema Haque and produced by U-M’s Leadership Collaborative. The topic of the conversation: self-compassion. 

“At its most rudimentary form, [self-compassion] is treating yourself the way that you would treat others, with kindness and generosity,” Rohr says in the episode. 

Citing Ramaswami Mahalingam, director of the Barger Leadership Institute at U-M, Rohr also notes that self-compassion is “an active, engaged practice. […] It is a skill that needs to be honed.”

In the episode, Rohr and Haque provide tips for self-compassion through mindfulness, including: 

1. Create a list of things you accomplished throughout the day, including small acts of self-care. 
2. Meditation.
3. Journaling in a way that invites a dialogue with yourself.
4. Continued learning about mindfulness and self-compassion.
5. Connecting with local mental health resources.

Learn more about self-compassion in the Break Away Leadership podcast.