Christopher Germer
is a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School and a
founding member of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy.
Mindful self-compassion is the foundation of
emotional healing - being aware in the present moment when we're
struggling with feelings of inadequacy, despair, confusion, and other
forms of stress (mindfulness) and responding with kindness and
understanding (self-compassion).
To build a culture of empathy and compassion, Chris says
we need to have a societal discussion about what values are really
important to us. They did this in Bhutan where they have the
"gross national happiness" index. Also, that we need to develop
extensive empathy and compassion trainings. He said, the average
American watches TV for 4 hours a day. What if we used that time
learning about empathy and compassion? What a different world it would
be. Sub Conference: Science
Video
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In this panel discussion,
Kristin Neff, Christopher Germer
and Edwin Rutsch discuss the question,
What is the Relationship Between
Self-Empathy, Empathy, Self-Compassion & Compassion? There is
a great deal of confusion about the
meanings and definitions of self-empathy, empathy, self-compassion
& compassion. We might be talking about the same experience,
but are using different words, or are talking about different
experiences and are using the same word, etc.
There is a great deal of confusion about the
meanings and
definitions of self-empathy, empathy, self-compassion
& compassion. We might be talking about the same
experience, but are using different words.
Some people,
for instance, say there is compassion fatigue. Recently some in the
compassion community have been saying it's really empathy fatigue.
Kristin feels personal distress may be a more
accurate term. Edwin feels there is no such
thing as compassion or empathy fatigue, it is really more
accurately described as empathy and compassion deficit fatigue.
Join us for a wide ranging dialog about this and more with leaders
in the field of empathy and compassion.
Every
now and then, you meet someone who changes your world. For me, that most
recent someone is a remarkably wise and compassionate colleague,
Christopher Germer. Germer is a Harvard Medical School Clinical
Instructor in Psychology and a founding member of the Institute for
Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit organization dedicated to the
education and training of mental health professionals interested in
integrating mindfulness meditation and psychotherapy.
Truthfully, Germer is more than a colleague, he's a mentor. The good
psychologist not only ignited my interest in all things
self-compassionate, he re-ignited my passion for book-writing. He's got
that kind of inspirational effect on people.
