
Expert Advice: Showing compassion during turbulent times
Transcript
Host Amber Smith: Here's some expert advice from child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Nayla Khoury from Upstate Medical University. How can we show compassion during turbulent times?
Nayla Khoury, MD: These are hard times for everyone. The state of the world is a pretty scary place for many people, and so, in addition to expecting that anxiety, stress, anger and grief might be some emotions people are experiencing, it can be helpful to also cultivate compassion as one sustainable practice to help us cope. So compassion is the ability for ourselves to feel with someone else, feels someone's feelings, and also to hold a wish to relieve suffering in some way. And it's that wish to relieve suffering that gives it a sustainable quality and helps us move from just feeling overwhelmed and overburdened to feeling empowered.
So compassion based practices can be absolutely helpful in any time. Some of my favorite mentors, Dr. Chris Germer and Dr. Kristin Neff, have developed compassion-based trainings to help people cope during ... well, all the time, so I wanted to offer one practice, a self-compassion practice, to try with me.
So, I invite you to find a comfortable position wherever you are. And noticing how your body is supporting you in this moment and being awake, alert and at ease, if it's comfortable, you can bring one or both hands, on the space, around your chest or heart or bring your hand to anywhere that feels comfortable on your body.
Closing your eyes, if that feels OK, or finding a soft gaze and just noticing what you're feeling in your body right now. So allowing whatever arises to be just as it is without pushing it away or making it different. There may be numbness or nothing at all that comes up. There may be worry, stress, discomfort in the body.
So what I'll walk you through is a self-compassion break, and the first part of it is just to notice and lean into discomfort in the body. And you can name it for yourself. Say something like this is anxiety, or this is stress, or simply, this is suffering. Naming it, this is suffering.
The second part is to connect with the universal experience of all of us, like this is the human condition. So to say something to yourself, like we're all suffering, I'm not alone.
And the third part is then to ask yourself and listen for the answer on different levels. How can I be kind to myself in this moment of suffering?
Or what is it I need to hear? What is it my body needs? So giving yourself a moment, just to try out those three things in your experience and then release.
So that's a self-compassion break you could do any time, any moment. And we have found that compassion and self-compassion practices can be huge, helpful buffers to stress and depression in high-stress times.
Thanks.
Host Amber Smith: You've been listening to child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Nayla Khoury from Upstate Medical University.