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”.

It spoke deeply to me of my own on-going sense of calling and it made me think, I’d love to have a conversation with this person.

Yatom touches on research on the helpfulness of compassion—compassion for others and for oneself, giving and receiving—and of how the capacity to give and receive compassion correlates significantly with with measures of stress, depression, and anxiety—and with psychological well-being. As one example, Paul Gilbert and colleagues (2011) found that both the fear of receiving compassion from others and the fear of receiving compassion from oneself were positively associated with self-criticism, self-coldness, depression, anxiety, and stress. As fears of receiving compassion increased, so did levels of self-criticism, depression, anxiety, and stress.

Yatom also speaks of the healing potential in both the recognition and experience of a person’s goodness and the recognition too of a person’s pain.

I sincerely hope the presentation will offer something uplifting and nourishing to you.