14. Why self-compassion is important when struggling with anxieties, worries, and fears

Many of us grew up in a world that told us that we should be fearless, jump off the cliff, and eliminate fear from our lives. In a very intimate conversation, I chat with Steve Hayes, Ph.D., a co-founder of acceptance and commitment therapy, about his relationship to fear, anxieties, and worries and how his personal experience and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) unfolded simultaneously.This is Part 1 of a very personal conversation with Steve, and it gives us a peek into the life behind the scenes of a person that published over hundreds of academic papers and academic books, trained hundreds of clinicians, presented at countless of international conferences and developed a model of psychological science that has exploded in the last 30 years.What to listen for:What was difficult for Dr. Hayes dealing with fearHow Steve made a pivot from struggling with fear since very early in his life to learning to live with itHow Steve learned to observe his fears, be curious about them, be interested on them, and at times, appreciate themHow Steve practices self-compassion when strugglingHow Steve determined his values and how they helped him to navigate through daily lifeHow Steve handled his fears about his first TEDx talkHow Steve's personal experience shaped the development of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)Stay tuned for part 2!(*) Show notes and resources of this episode(*) Receive free weekly science-based, compassionate, and actionable skills to stop ineffective playing-it-safe(*) Figure out your playing-it-safe profile in 5 minutes and identify the key thinking strategies that keep you living in your head(*) Learn ACT skills for anxious achievers by taking Dr. Z. ACT courses Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.