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  • Author : PeppyPatti
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  • Topic : Our stories
21 Feb 2025 06:46 AM
Senior Contributor
 was reading this really interesting thing the other day, by a guy called James Doty, a neurosurgeon, and he talks about compassion.
Anout how our brains  work with kindness. He was saying :
we should treat ourselves like we'd treat a good friend who's really sick
 
And I thought, wow, that's something so easy to be hard on yourself.
 
I know from reading your posts that you've been through a lot, and it seems like you  feel things deeply.
 
You're obviously a really smart and perceptive person. You get people, you understand things. And Doty says that's part of how our brains are wired. 
My upbringing - I didn't have that. Right now I feel like this post could go on forever so I'll try and stop - 
 
But sometimes, we forget to turn that understanding inward.  It's like, we're so good at seeing other people's pain, but we forget to see our own.
IV been very guilty of it myself. When I was studying Psychotherapy, my pain was so huge I spent my time reading a lady called Nancy McWilliams not focusing on me but ," analysing " all the people in my life - I was cleaning houses to make money. 
I'm not a doctor or anything, just someone who reads a lot. And I know I don't always get things right. But this idea of treating yourself like a friend, it just seemed like something worth sharing. Like, maybe, it's a little tool we can all use, especially when things get tough.
 
I hope that makes sense. I'm not the best at explaining things, but I just wanted to share something that I found helpful,

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