Different cultures, world religions and psychological trends have developed a wide variety of methods and tools to help us cope with the challenges of our lives. In my biological, psychological and spiritual studies and in my own life journey and struggles, I have been exposed to many of these tools and have experienced that there are situations where these tools have been of great help to me and there have been situations where they have hindered me in my quest for a healthier, more fulfilling, happier life. I have been shocked to find that the same methods that work in one situation in life, for one person, can even prove harmful in another, or for another person.

In searching for the reason for this, and for ways in which the tools at my disposal can prove healing, I came across a treasure that can be found in all the great spiritual traditions and in the psychotherapy practice of the last two decades. Since this treasure has proved to be the "philosopher's stone" in my life and in the lives of all the people I have tried to help as a professional or as a private person, turning all other tools and all other experiences into healing, I decided to write a series of posts to share what I have found with as many people as possible.

Unfortunately, the difficulty in writing this series of articles is that there is no word in the Hungarian language that can accurately describe this spiritual phenomenon. To translate the English word "kompassió" would sound foreign. Therefore, I will use the term "együttérzés", which is used in the Hungarian literature and does not fully capture the original meaning of the term. Where this does not prove to be an appropriate translation, I will indicate it separately.

Compassion (com=with, with, pati=to suffer) means in a narrow sense suffering together, but in a broader sense the shared experience of passion, of intense emotions. Compassion Focused Therapy, which can be translated as "Együttérzés fókuszú terápia", was developed as a result of a scientific study of the experience of Buddhist meditation.

I have had the gift of writing my Master's thesis on the effects of self-compassion on psychological resilience, so that I could also as a psychologist verify the therapeutic effectiveness of compassion; and in the last semester, as part of my continuing education in psychology, I had the opportunity to participate in a training course on Compassion Focused Therapy, accredited by the Romanian Chamber of Psychologists. During my studies and research, I have read several textbooks on this topic and I must confess that I have been consciously developing my own (self-)compassion through various exercises in my daily life.

Based on all these experiences, I would like to compile and make available a Hungarian-language material on the topic of compassion.

I used as literature the books of Dr. Kristin Neff on self-compassion and Dr. Nicola Petrocchi's course on Compassion-Focused Therapy.

I would like to write about the misconceptions about (self-)compassion, the basic elements of self-compassion, its evolutionary benefits, its neurophysiological basis, its therapeutic mechanisms of action, its relationship with self-criticism, anxiety, depression, shame, anger, forgiveness, caring for others, and its spiritual aspects.

I invite all those who read my posts to join me on the journey of discovering the gift of self-compassion!