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Cultivate Compassion for Wellbeing: Recent Research and Practical Strategies

Holly Hatton‐Bowers, PhD

October 30th, 2019

My own journey with compassion

My Adverse Childhood Events

– Before the age of 5, had experienced 6 adverse childhood experiences.

– Also very caring adult caregivers

– Teachers

– In adolescence a strong social network of trusted people, compassionate people

– High on resilience

– (e.g., learn valuable lessons from rough experiences, adapt to difficult or challenging life experiences, supportive others). ACE Score Prevalence for CDC‐Kaiser ACE Study 

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente. The ACE Study Survey Data. 

In adulthood, while resilient in some ways, suffering personally and professionally

My “soothing system” was imbalanced

Adapted from Gilbert, P. (2009). The Compassionate Mind:  A New Approach to Life’s Challenges. 

Mindfulness and compassion helped me move from a place of surviving to thriving, it helped balance my safeness or soothing system.

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Mindfulness to shift into more moments of safety and connection

• "Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non‐judgmentally"  ‐ Jon Kabat‐Zinn

• “Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention here and now, with kindness and curiosity, so that we can choose our behavior.” – Dr. Amy Saltzman

Image credit: Pixaby.com

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“M indfulness is thought of as intentional and non-judgm ental present-m om entawareness. This kind of awareness m eans we are purposefully paying

attention to what is happening around us, what is happening inside us, what

we are doing, and how we are doing and feeling without judging or analyzing.”

G raphic Title

It is an open and non-judgmental awareness that you can bring to each moment. With mindful practice, it is possible to develop more kindness, awareness and resilience in your life (Srinivasan 2014).

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What do you notice? – coming back to our senses

Go around in a circle

• First what do you see? Everyone state something they see• What do you hear? Everyone state something they hear• What do you smell? Everyone state something they smell• What do you feel? Everyone state something they feel, physically or emotionally.

Compassion

• Rooted in wise, courageous action – Paul Gilbert

• Act of courage to turn toward suffering, toward the difficulty – Jack Kornfield

2016 Roffey Park Institute, Compassion in the workplace

Four key aspects• Paying attention to the experience in the present 

moment• Relating to the experience without judgement or 

resisting (acceptance) • Relating to the experiencer with the desire to alleviate 

suffering• Adopting a caring attitude towards the self and others 

“Heartfulness” (Voci et al., 2019)

Compassion it a Trainable Skill

– You can learn it

– You can teach it

– You can share it, pass it 

on!

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Research Shows…

Enhanced emotion regulation

Improve focus and attentional awareness

Decrease stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms

Expand our capacity for perspective taking

Increase workplace engagement

Healthier and more positive work environment

Mindfulness, Stress, and Burnout

• Among pediatric residents, mindfulness and self‐compassion significantly associated with lower stress and confidence to use compassionate care (Kemper et al., 2019)

• Among early education educators, an 8‐week MBI significantly related to reduced burnout, stress, and increased mindfulness, sleep quality and perceived control at work (Hatton‐Bowers et al., 2018)

• MBI’s associated with positive well‐being and negatively associated with stress, depression and anxiety among health care professionals (Lomas et al., 2019)

• Among pediatric ICU nurses who participated in a brief MBI there were significant decrease in stress irrespective of meditation experience (Gauthier et al., 2015) 

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Mindfulness Attentional Awareness

• Among teachers, mindfulness practices associated with an increased awareness of body sensations, thoughts, and emotions (Hwang et a., 2017)

• Increased awareness for stepping back from automatic habitual reactions was one of the most significant predictors for predicting workplace engagement and psychological well‐being(Mainowski & Lim, 2015)

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Mindfulness Emotional Regulation Skills 

• In a systematic review, mindfulness‐based interventions have moderate effects in improving emotion regulation of teachers (Emerson et al., 2017)

• Among early care and education teachers, an 8‐week mindfulness‐based intervention reduces emotion dysregulation (Hatton‐Bowers et al, 2019)

• Emotional self‐efficacy and psychological flexibility increases among social workers who participated in a 8‐week mindfulness training course (Kinman et al., 2019)

• Acceptance important for MBI’s effect on emotion regulation (Lindsay & Creswell, 2019). 

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Mindfulness, Perspective Taking, & Relationships

• Mindfulness positively associated with perspective taking with children who have challenging behaviors among preschool teachers (Jennings, 2015)

• Preschool teachers’ dispositional mindfulness positively associated closeness and less conflict with children (Becker et al., 2017)

• Preservice students’ higher mindfulness associated with reflective practices and endorsing more developmentally supportive responses (Brophy‐Herb et al., 2018)

• Higher dispositional mindfulness associated with a stronger working alliance among Early Head Start/Head Start home visitors (Becker et al., 2016)

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Mindfulness and Self‐Compassion

• Self‐compassion significantly associated with psychological health and reduced stress among educators (Flook et al., 2013; Hwang et al., 2019)

• Mental health professional who participated in MBSR had significant increases in self‐compassion (Raab et al., 2015)

• Self‐compassion is a significant predictor of personal and professional self‐care among clinical social workers (Miller et al., 2019)

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How do we foster compassion?

Step 1: 

Self‐compassion

Step 2:

Be compassionate towards others

Step 3: 

Foster a climate or culture of compassion

“Our every interaction every day shapes our world. To the extent that we are present with and pay attention to all those we interact with, understand their challenges, empathise with them, and take action to help them, we create a more compassionate world. To have the capacity and resilience to show compassion to others, we must first practice self‐compassion.” 

‐ Professor Michael West, Lancaster University Management School & Kings Fund Thought Leader, 2017

What is self-compassion?

– Mindfulness (presence) – Acknowledging when 

we are stressed or struggling without overreacting 

or being judgmental

– Self‐kindness (loving) – Not being harshly self‐

critical, being supportive and understanding 

towards ourselves

– Common Humanity/Connectedness – we all make 

mistakes, we all experience difficulties at times. 

WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Myths of Self-Compassion

• It’s a form of self‐pity?: associated less rumination and self‐

focus

• Represents weakness? : Higher coping and resilience

• Undermine motivation? : Greater persistence and motivation

• Leads to self‐indulgence? Practice more health behaviors

• Selfish? : Higher giving relationship behavior – Neff, K., 2019

Mindfulness & Self-compassion

– Mindfulness (accepts painful “experiences” and Self‐compassion

(accepts the “experiencer” who is experiencing suffering.”

– Both needs to be practiced together

– Mindfulness helps us focus our attention what’s happening but self‐

compassion provides us the emotional safety we need to explore it 

(common humanity)/connectedness 

– Self‐compassion activities our innate care system that is part of human—

parents care for the child.

– Mindfulness helps you create the space you need to feel different emotions.

Difficult Emotions: "What you resist will persist.” - Germer

– Not trying to be mindful 24/7‐‐‐that’s overwhelming 

and unrealistic

– But what you do allow yourself to feel, you can be able to work with it in 

a more productive way—interrupts rumination or negative storyline

– Turning inward into ourselves, and providing 

ourselves the nurturance we give to others every day

– How would you respond to a friend? 

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Some practices to take with you…Self-compassion Break

• Think of a situation that is difficult. Not overwhelming or too difficult but causing some stress. 

• Notice how the stress feels in your body.

• Now say to yourself – This is stress. This hurts.

• Other people feel this way. We all struggle in our lives.

• Then ask, what do I need to hear right now to express kindness to myself? 

• May I be patient or May I be strong.

Three minute breathing space

• From Zindal Segel, PhD, a Co‐Founder of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. 

• Need a minute to check in with our selves

• Dissolves negative thought patterns before they gain control over your life

• An emergency meditation that allows you to see clearly what is arising from moment to moment when you feel under pressure

Becoming Aware

Gathering

Expanding

Supportive Touch

Hand‐on‐Heart or Hand‐on‐Cheek

– When you notice you’re under stress, take 2‐3 deep, satisfying 

breaths.

– Gently place your hand over your heart or place one hand on 

your cheek, feeling the gentle pressure and warmth of your hand. 

If you wish, place both hands on your chest or face, noticing the 

difference between one and two hands.

– Feel the touch of you hand on your chest or cheek. 

– Stay with the feeling for as long as you like.

Compassion towards others– Be alive to the suffering of others: pay attention to others when they talk. What do 

you notice? 

– Be non‐judgmental: intentionally practice seeing the other side of an argument. How 

often to you judge a book by it’s cover? 

– Tolerate personal distress: how will you hold difficult emotions? How can you tolerate 

the distress of others without becoming overwhelmed? 

– Be empathetic: Ask questions! “That sounds tough, how are you feeling about it? Or “I 

would have disliked that – how are you feeling?”

– Taking appropriate action: Think about the compassionate action. Is it likely to be 

welcome? Is the action you plan to take appropriate in the cultural context? What are 

your intentions? 2016 Roffey Park Institute, Compassion in the workplace

Part of well-being is practicing Compassion for Connectedness

– Mindfulness helps us wake up to the choice points in our relationships

– Reach out to supportive others – Why? 

– Helps you put things into perspective

– Help you understand your feelings and thoughts

– Bring a sense of belonging

“Many of us are willing to extend a helping hand, but we’re very reluctant to reach out for help when we need it ourselves. It’s as if we’ve divided the world into “those who offer help” and “those who need help.” The truth is that we are both. Need is the most beautiful compact between humans.” – Brene Brown

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Compassion is also about Noticing Happiness and Joy – Dyad Reflection

– 6 minutes

– Both partners respond to a repeating question:

– Partner A will ask their partner a question: “Please tell me: What brings you happiness?

– Partner B will respond with a word or a sentence. 

– (“Seeing my child smile.”, “Cuddling with my cat.” or “being in the woods” or “listening to music”

– Partner A will say “thank you”. Pause and then repeat the question. 

– You will do this for 3 minutes. When you hear the bell stop. Take a brief pause and then partners switch roles 

and repeat the practice. 

– After 3 minutes you will hear the bell and then stop. 

– For 2 minutes share what you noticed about this 

Hokusai says…

Your Intention

– Set your intention as you leave today

– How will you practice compassion in the 

next few weeks, in your personal and 

professional life? 

– How will you live a life of thriving? 

“The thing I rem em ber best about successful people I've m et all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing and it seem s to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing,

and they love it in front of others.” –Fred Rogers

Use compassion and mindfulness to be more present with your practice.

Thank you for your kind attention! hattonb@unl.edu