I've been exploring third wave CBT for practically all this year, starting with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Lately I have been exploring DBT and Compassion Focused therapy. At first I didn't really get CFT, I thought it would be too light for me. Recently,
though, I have found compassion, especially self-compassion, to be particularly important for my own journey of healing and recovery. Whenever things feel particularly difficult I find being kind to myself about my struggles and endeavours and failures and
also widening my compassion towards people I share my life with and beyond that, really helps. I have been doing the Loving-Kindness meditation with my daughter since July, I feel it has also been helping. I have been practising mindfulness since March 23rd,
recently, on the morning of November 14th, I was sitting in a coffee shop in Harrow when I experienced a feeling of great inner peace. I felt the most calm, zen-like or Nirvana-ish perhaps, than I possibly had ever felt before. I think this feeling will come
and go, but at least I know I can feel like that sometimes. I am looking for more peace and calm in my life, at the moment I find it in half-hour pauses in cafes and pubs. Above and below are examples of colouring sheets I have created to help me in my new
acceptance-based, compassionate and mindful way of being.
The following blog posts show the therapeutic journey I have been on this year, starting with ACT in February and ending with CFT in November. It is interesting to see where I started from and where I am now.
1. Welcome to the third wave (September)
2. A guide to guided meditations (August)
3. Yoga for Stress Relief (July)
4. Mindful ACT : favourite resources (June)
5. Breathe (May)
6. Mindful Colouring and Doodling (May)
7. Stoic quotes and mindfulness plus (April)
8. The Yin and Yang of ACT (February)
Extra Resources
CFT Books
The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert
Croydon, Robinson, 2009
Mindfulness based compassionate living by E. van Der Brink and F. Koster
Hove, Routledge 2015
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