Since 2012, the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing has hosted wellbeing thought-leaders to inspire and educate the community, organizations, and life-long learners through the Wellbeing Lecture Series.
Past speakers like Brené Brown, Atul Gawande, Dessa, Celeste Headlee, Rhonda Magee, and Jon Kabat-Zinn have explored a range of topics including purpose, vulnerability, food and wellbeing, gratitude, technology, and mindfulness, among others.
Discover more about your own wellbeing with us through the Wellbeing Series, an opportunity to engage, learn, and experience what wellbeing means to you.
For questions about the Wellbeing Series or to make disability-related accommodations, please contact the Bakken Center’s community relations and events office at [email protected] or 612-625-8164.
2025 Wellbeing Series
Self-Compassion: How to Effectively Motivate Yourself with Encouragement Rather Than Criticism with Dr. Kristin Neff
Some people fear self-compassion is a form of self-pity, and obsessively chase high self-esteem instead—their self-worth fluctuating with every success and failure. But research shows us that people who are self-compassionate lead healthier, happier, more productive lives than those who are self-critical. These people also have the resilience needed to cope with traumatic or stressful life events such as divorce, parenting, or the pressures at work.
In this talk, she walks audiences through practices designed to increase motivation, foster grit and growth mindset, and rebound from failure, all through the cultivation of self-compassion.
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the three components of self-compassion.
2. Distinguish between self-criticism and self-compassion as motivators.
3. Apply self-compassion in motivational contexts.