05:06

Self-compassion For Self Criticism, Depression And Anxiety

by Karen Skehel

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talks
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Meditation
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In this discussion myself and my colleague Steve Hargreaves discuss the myriad of benefits that self-compassion brings both at work and with our mental health: liberating ourselves from self-criticism, Imposter syndrome the need to be perfect, increased happiness, as well as a huge decrease in depression and anxiety and its impact. Plus we share many of the other benefits in our discussion.

Self CompassionMental HealthDepressionAnxietySelf CriticismImposter SyndromeHappinessStressResilienceWorkplaceBurnoutJob SatisfactionSocial ConnectionWellbeingLeadership With CompassionSelf Criticism ReductionStress ReductionResilience IncreaseDepression ReliefAnxiety ReductionWorkplace CollaborationBurnout PreventionCareer SatisfactionWorkplace ProductivityPositive Wellbeing

Transcript

So Steve,

Benefits of leadership with self-compassion and compassion versus leadership without.

Love to hear your take on that.

What do you see as the benefits?

Well I think if broadly we look at the benefits of self-compassion,

Knowing from personal experience and my work with clients,

Sometimes we can just liberate ourselves from self-criticism,

Imposter syndrome,

That striving to be perfect.

We can increase our motivation,

Self-worth,

Reduce feelings of stress often by taking a more self-compassionate approach to ourselves.

I think how that manifests itself from a leadership perspective is I think at its most simple level,

If as leaders we are more aware,

Conscious and engaged in that process of self-compassion,

We might be much more likely to exhibit and demonstrate that same approach to other people.

What do you think?

Yes,

Just give me a minute to reflect on what I want to share.

Yes,

The piece about just to kind of go through,

Go through what the benefits are.

First benefit is for sure you're looking at increased happiness and we know don't we when we're happier we are more productive and it's a more life is more enjoyable.

We're more effective at work,

We're more enjoyable to be around.

From a mental health perspective,

The benefits are really interesting.

The impact on depression and anxiety,

Huge decrease in depression and anxiety that comes through that practice of self-compassion actually and that comes from self.

The other benefits are as we naturally move into that practice of self-compassion,

We find that our criticism of self decreases and of course then our criticism of others decreases.

We also know that our resilience increases,

That we're less impacted by stress and we have more healthy positive collaborations with our colleagues,

More cooperation at the work.

So that again contributes to productivity and organizations thriving and when we're practicing self-compassion the risks of overworking and burning out are hugely diminished if you like and when we have compassion for our colleagues as leaders what that does it gives that our colleagues will tend to go away with greater job satisfaction as we will.

They tend to be more committed to the organization so they tend to feel more that they belong and fit in and they and us tend to have more of an upbeat attitude,

They tend to be happier,

They're more peaceful,

Enthusiastic and joyful.

And the final benefit I have on my list is that the piece around social connection,

The piece that you talked about as well about belonging,

Feeling like they belong to the organization and that really supports commitment and the productivity and the results the organization delivers.

So I'm a big fan of it from all perspectives and not my personal,

If you like,

Just my personal perspective but all of that is borne out by research.

So if we want and need our people to belong rather than fit in and there's a big difference between those two things.

If we want our people to thrive,

To achieve,

To stay well,

To enable them to perform,

To be much more engaged within the workplace and the organization they're in and to ultimately have positive well-being we need to really think seriously about self compassion,

We think seriously about the principles and practice of self compassion.

Yes it's a thinking thing but ultimately it's a feeling activity so thinking about feeling interesting combination but yes for sure.

So a really important part of compassion and self compassion,

The benefits.

I'm looking forward to our next conversation on another aspect of self compassion and compassion in the workplace.

Have a great day,

Nice to talk to you.

And you,

Thank you.

Meet your Teacher

Karen SkehelLondon, UK

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© 2026 Karen Skehel. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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