Self-Management of Depression

One of life's undeniable truths is that you will face failures. How one deals with these failures depends, among other factors, on one's compassion toward oneself and one's mindset toward adapting to failure. In this context, self-compassion and a growth mindset help you overcome your harsh inner critic, especially when failures lead you to judge yourself harshly, feel ashamed, or blame yourself. This article discusses how to use these tools in these situations.   Self-Compassion Put simply, self-compassion is compassion turned inwards, i.e., how you relate to yourself in instances of perceived failure, inadequacy, or personal suffering. The three components of the compassionate frame of mind are self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and mindfulness (Neff, 2011). Let’s consider the following situation to illustrate how you can use three components to deal with an adversity that makes you critical of yourself. You couldn’t meet a deadline at work despite your best effor...

Kindness is an investment in social relationships that will yield you high dividends. Research shows that genuine acts of kindness, even when they are unpleasant or when one doesn’t expect anything in return, make the doer happy (Lyubomirsky, 2007). The relationship between kindness and happiness is not merely correlational (happier people by nature may be kinder or vice versa) but causal. Simply put, acts of kindness do make people happier (Curry et al., 2018). When you get recognition through smiles, thankfulness, and friendship for your acts of kindness, it helps satisfy a basic human need to connect with others. When doing something for your partner, you sometimes, either consciously or unconsciously, want something from them – “I cleaned the garage; she should clean the bathroom.” Rather than keeping a mental score of your and your partner’s good deeds, remember that giving is its own reward. This reward is the feeling of happiness and contentment you receive in know...