Compassionate Mind Training Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ewan
This podcast is part of a student study (conducted by Ewan Osborne as part of a Masters Thesis in Psychology) looking at the relationship between compassionate mindfulness and mental well-being.The podcast accompanies an introduction to Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) as part of a Compassionate Mindfulness course. There are eight episodes throughout the course including educational materials, activities and guided mediations to help cultivate mindfulness and compassion.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”
- Chinese Proverb, 4th Century B.C.
Whilst compassion is an innate part of being human, it is not always easy to access, acknowledge or show in our modern lives. As one of our more evolved traits, compassion often finds itself side-lined in favour of older, less-evolved behaviours and processes.
As we come to a close on this programme looking at compassionate mindfulness, it is worth acknowledging why we may have difficulties when trying to access and practise compassion. We have to remember that being human is very difficult and many of the older traits of our species, when expressed by our new brain, can be increadibly destructive. Yet at the same time, when we express more evolved processes like compassion through our new brain, we also have the potential to be amazing.
“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
- Carl Jung
An often misunderstood concept, self-compassion is one of the three flows of compassion. Whilst self-compassion is always available to us, it can ironically be one of the most difficult flows of compassion to access for some. In this week's podcast and activity, we will be taking a deeper dive into what self-compassion is, why we need it and how it relates to our emotions and the Compassionate Self.
“Be like a river and flow from your source.”
- E. Sophia
After exploring the motivational systems and our 'emotional selves' within them, this week we will be looking at our identities with a focus on the Compassionate Self. Many of our identities are unique to us, however a few appear to be universal across humanity (sometimes known as archetypes). One of these innate identities is our Compassionate Self.
In this week's podcast and activity, we will be exploring the different qualities of the Compassionate Self, in relation to our emotions, as well as how we can use mindfulness to help cultivate and engage with this idenity of ours.
“To awaken human emotion is the highest level of art.”
- Isadora Duncan
Our emotions are a central part of compassion and what it means to be human. However, we can often encounter difficulties when experiencing certain emotions or when trying to understand where they are coming from. In this week's podcast and activity we will be exploring the motivational systems which govern our emotions as well as using mindfulness to approach the concept of 'emotional selves' in our lives.
“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
- Lao Tzu, 6th-Century B.C.
Compassion is not one emotion, feeling, behaviour or idea, but a process. This is important to understand when practising compassion and how it incorporates many of these different elements. One of the key concepts within the process of compassion is known as the flows of compassion. This week we will be looking at the three flows of compassion, how they interact and why compassion relies upon all three in order to seperate it from other processes and motivations.
“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
- Marcus Aurelius, 2nd-Century A.D.
As you may have already gathered, being human is difficult!
However, after exploring how our brains work and the benefits of mindfulness, we can begin to take responsibilty for these tricky brains we have. This week, we will be expanding on the interactions between our 'new brain' and 'old brain' with a concept known as Mind Loops. In both this week's podcast and activity, we will be exploring what a Mind Loop is, why they happen and how compassionate mindfulness can help us understand and unpick our Mind Loops.
“Know Thyself.”
- Inscription at Delphi, 6th Century B.C.
Mindfulness is a key part of CMT as it allows us to observe suffering with open acceptance and wisdom, placing us in a better position to notice and alleviate the suffering of others and ourselves. However, mindfulness is an often misunderstood concept and it is important that we know what it is, and how to practise it, before taking a deeper dive into compassion. In this week's podcast and activity, we will be exploring what mindfulness actually is, and what it involves, so that we can cultivate a mindful self which will be our anchor in the present moment when practising compassion.
Welcome to your Compassionate Mind Training Programme!
In this first episode, we will be introducing the meaning of compassion and the process of compassionate mind training with an interview conducted by the Weekend University with the founder of CMT practise, Professor Paul Gilbert. Once you have listened to the Podcast above, you can find a link to the interview below as well as on your information sheet for this week.
Link to the interview (after listening to the podcast):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASiktnaR1Qg