Compassion

Yesterday I watched from my neighborhood as Canadian military personnel arrived in a helicopter and, from that hovering helicopter, rescued a crane operator who was trapped at the end of the arm of the crane, due to a huge fire and smoke below the crane (and the crane’s cab). I also witnessed, as so many others have, the swift, prolonged, and skilled actions of numerous fire fighters, police, and other emergency responders and technicians, as well as volunteers Read more ›

The musician, Matt Andersen, is phenomenal. When I heard his live performance of the carol, O Holy Night, a few years ago, it took my breath away.

Last week, while listening to his studio recording of the same carol, I was struck by pairing the end of one particular line paired with the beginning of the next. Read more ›

The first time I heard the song, Sisters of Mercy, written by Leonard Cohen and performed in this instance by Serena Ryder (studio version), I was riveted. At the song’s conclusion, I took a deep breath and uttered, “Wow”. Needless to say, I really like this song. Read more ›

In light of Amy Cuddy’s research in the previous post on the effect in her studies of posture on certain outcome variables such as hormone levels, what do you think might be the hormone levels (and other variables) for this little guy? Read more ›

Compassion-focused therapy aims to help us cultivate certain skills, qualities, feeling states, and motivations (e.g., skills and qualities compassion, feelings of safeness, the motivation to show care and to alleviate suffering). These we can then use to help work with particular difficulties or situations such as shame, self-criticism, or difficult emotions. Compassion-focused therapy also aims to help address and alleviate the fears and blocks we may have to experiencing compassion Read more ›

I pledge to spend the rest of my life focused on developing and promoting ways to increase compassion among millions of people worldwide.
—Dr. Yotam Heineberg (May 2013)

Here is a recording of a short presentaiton given by Dr. Yotam Heineberg, “The Future of Psychology: Compassion-Focused Outcomes” (May 2013). I watched it this morning and  thought to myself, “What an awesome way to start the day”. Read more ›

I really enjoyed this book by psychologist, Lynne Henderson. You can find the book’s publication details, as well as a brief summary of my praise in the IC resource section here!

This week, I would like to share a video I came across in the spring that I found interesting and inspiring. It’s a documentary of a pilot program that was run through Veterans Affairs in Seattle teaching to veterans mindfulness meditation, loving kindness meditation, and concepts related to compassion for oneself and for others.

The veterans in the group were all suffering in various ways, which you learn snippets of over the course of the video. The group members also experience positive changes over the program, Read more ›

For my German speaking and reading visitors:

Thomas Heinsius and Mirjam Tanner have just started a website on compassion in German to disseminate information on compassion-focused therapy and compassion-based psychotherapeutic work in German speaking countries. Read more ›