Compassion is the greatest thing you never knew you needed

And you do need it!

Another connection to the concept of tone! In this episode of the Dan Harris podcast, Dr Paul Gilbert OBE, a professor of psychology at the University of Derby, founder and president of The Compassionate Mind Foundation, the founder of Compassion Focused Therapy, talks about how wisdom and courage are the keys to cultivating compassion.

And it’s all great, and very useful, and also true. But the real a-ha moment for me happened when Dr Gilbert recounted how he first realised the importance of tone, while working with one of his patients. It wasn't the words she was saying to herself that were bad ('what’s wrong, you have all of this to be happy about...'), but how they were being delivered (screaming!).

We need to pay attention to the actual tone of our own inner voice, the inner critic, or if you prefer the tone of the inner monologue - I actually refer to mine as my inner roommate!

This disembodied voice holds much power over us, and the fundamental reason we need to cultivate compassion is to help teach this other ‘me’ to stop being a jerk - aka talk with more calm, care and kindness.

Even Mahatma Gandi said: ‘The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.’ So as my video editor pointed out to me the other day, the game is really to figure out how to teach mindfulness to my inner roommate, but that’s for another day.

So this is a big deal: 'Compassion Is the Ultimate Tool for the Truly Ambitious'. Listen to this interview. And tell people about it.