13 Self-Compassion Practices to Become Your Own Best Friend

When was the last time you spoke to yourself the way you’d speak to someone you truly love?

I’ll never forget the moment I realized I was my own worst enemy.

I was sitting at my desk after a long day, staring at my computer screen, replaying every mistake I’d made on repeat. “You’re such an idiot,” I muttered. “Why can’t you ever get anything right?”

Then it hit me—I would never say those words to my best friend. Yet here I was, serving them up to myself like they were daily vitamins.

If you’ve ever caught yourself spiraling in self-criticism, you’re not alone.

Studies show that nearly 85% of people struggle with low self-esteem, and most of us have an inner critic that sounds less like a supportive coach and more like a relentless bully.

But here’s the truth: self-compassion practices aren’t fluffy feel-good ideas—they’re the foundation of real mental wellbeing and growth.

The problem? No one ever taught us how to be our own best friend.

We learned to be kind to others, to forgive and celebrate them, but when it comes to ourselves, we hold impossible standards and punish ourselves for being human.

In this post, you’ll discover 13 powerful self-compassion practices to transform your relationship with yourself.

You’ll learn how to silence your inner critic, why self-esteem advice often fails, and how to practice kindness without losing your drive.

Because becoming your own best friend isn’t selfish—it’s survival.

What Is Self-Compassion (and How It Differs from Self-Esteem)

Self-compassion means treating yourself with the same kindness, patience, and care you’d offer a close friend during tough times.

Researcher Dr. Kristin Neff defines it through three pillars:

• Self-kindness: being gentle with yourself when you fail
• Common humanity: remembering everyone struggles
• Mindfulness: holding your pain with balanced awareness

Unlike self-esteem, which depends on success or comparison, self-compassion is unconditional. It doesn’t require perfection—it’s kindness without prerequisites.

Think of it this way:

• Self-esteem says, “I’m great because I succeeded.”
• Self-compassion says, “I’m struggling right now, and that’s okay. I still deserve kindness.”

One is fragile; the other, steady. Research consistently shows that self-compassion practices reduce anxiety and depression, boost motivation, and strengthen emotional resilience.

It’s not about lowering your standards—it’s about being kind to yourself through the climb.

The 13 Self-Compassion Practices

1. Practice Self-Kindness When You Make Mistakes

This is where becoming your own best friend truly begins—in those moments when you stumble or fall short.

The biggest mistake? Believing self-criticism is motivating. When you attack yourself, your brain goes into threat mode, triggering cortisol and shutting down your ability to learn.

Self-criticism doesn’t drive change; it drives shame.

How to Do It Well:

• Talk to yourself like you’d talk to a struggling friend. Ask: “What would I say to my best friend right now?” Then say it to yourself.
• Use your name. Instead of “I’m such a failure,” try “[Your name], you’re having a hard time right now, and that’s understandable.”
• Touch yourself gently. Place your hand on your heart. Physical touch releases oxytocin and calms your nervous system.
• Write yourself a compassionate letter from the perspective of an unconditionally loving friend.

2. Acknowledge Your Common Humanity

Struggle and imperfection are part of being human, not signs that something is uniquely wrong with you.

The biggest mistake? Personalizing your pain. When something goes wrong, you think, “Why does this always happen to me?” This isolation amplifies suffering.

But every person you admire has felt inadequate and made mistakes.

How to Do It Well:

• Normalize your experience. Remind yourself: “This is suffering. Suffering is part of life. I’m not alone in this.”
• Connect with others’ stories. Read memoirs, listen to podcasts. Seeing that successful people have struggled breaks the illusion of isolation.
• Notice the “everyone else” trap. You’re comparing your inside to everyone else’s outside.
• Practice “just like me” meditation. Think of someone struggling similarly and say, “Just like me, they want to be happy. Just like me, they’re doing their best.”

3. Develop Mindful Awareness of Your Inner Experience

Mindfulness in self-compassion practices means holding painful thoughts and feelings in balanced awareness—neither suppressing them nor getting swept away.

The biggest mistake? Either over-identifying with pain (“I AM anxious”) or avoiding it (“I’m fine”). You can’t help what you won’t see.

How to Do It Well:

• Name emotions without becoming them. Instead of “I am anxious,” try “I’m noticing anxiety is present.”
• Practice the STOP technique. Stop. Take a breath. Observe your thoughts and body. Proceed with self-compassion.
• Use “soften, soothe, allow.” Soften your body, soothe yourself with kind words, and allow the feeling without trying to fix it.
• Check in regularly. Set reminders to pause and ask: “What am I feeling right now? What do I need?”

Want more ways to build mindful awareness? These mindfulness hacks can help you stay grounded throughout your day

• 13 Easy Mindfulness Practices for a Stress-Free Lifestyle
• 9 Easy Micro‑Mindfulness Hacks for a Calmer Workday
• 12 Ways Mindfulness Can Shift You from Doing to Being

4. Challenge Your Inner Critic With Evidence

Your inner critic tells you you’re not good enough. The biggest mistake? Believing everything it says.

That voice isn’t truth—it’s a scared part trying to protect you from rejection by keeping you small. It often sounds like someone from your past: a critical parent, harsh teacher, or childhood bully.

How to Do It Well:

• Externalize the voice. Give your inner critic a name like “The Judge.” This helps you see it as one part of you, not the whole truth.
• Ask: “Would I say this to my best friend?” If not, don’t say it to yourself.
• Gather counter-evidence. Challenge: “You always fail” with specific examples: “Actually, I succeeded at X, Y, and Z.”
• Respond with compassion, not combat. Thank yourself for trying to protect yourself, then offer a balanced perspective.

Here’s where to start: 9 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Self-Talk You Didn’t Know About

5. Set Healthy Boundaries (Including With Yourself)

Self-compassion includes protecting your energy and well-being by setting clear boundaries.

The biggest mistake? Believing boundaries are selfish. But boundaries aren’t walls—they’re the door to sustainable relationships. Without them, you eventually slam the door shut completely.

How to Do It Well:

• Identify your non-negotiables. Sleep, time alone, movement—these aren’t luxuries. Protect them like necessities.
• Say no without over-explaining. “I can’t take that on right now” is a complete sentence.
• Set boundaries with your own patterns. Notice when you’re scrolling for hours or working past exhaustion, set kind but firm limits.
• Remember: discomfort isn’t danger. Setting boundaries feels uncomfortable because you’re breaking old patterns.

6. Celebrate Small Wins (And Stop Waiting for “Big Enough”)

Becoming your own best friend means acknowledging progress, even when it feels small.

The biggest mistake? Moving the goalpost. You accomplish something, feel good for 30 seconds, then shift to “Yeah, but I should have done it better.”

Every acknowledged success strengthens your neural pathways for growth.

How to Do It Well:

• Keep a daily wins journal. Write three things you did well each day. “I got out of bed when I didn’t feel like it” counts.
• Create celebration rituals. Finished a project? Do a happy dance. Make acknowledging wins tangible.
• Share wins with safe people who will celebrate with you, not minimize your achievement.
• Notice the “yeah, buts” and challenge them. Would you dismiss your best friend’s achievement this way?

7. Practice Self-Forgiveness for Past Mistakes

True self-compassion includes making peace with who you were when you knew less.

The biggest mistake? Confusing self-forgiveness with letting yourself off the hook.

When you’re stuck in shame, you’re trapped in the identity of “person who did that bad thing.” Self-forgiveness releases the endless self-punishment that serves no one.

How to Do It Well:

• Acknowledge the full truth. What did you do? What was the impact? Look at it clearly without minimizing or catastrophizing.
• Separate actions from identity. You did something unskillful. That doesn’t make you fundamentally bad.
• Make amends where possible. If appropriate, apologize or make repairs. Action breaks rumination.
• Write yourself a forgiveness letter from your current self to your past self.

8. Prioritize Rest Without Guilt

Your body and mind require rest to function.

The biggest mistake? Believing your worth is tied to productivity. This creates a vicious cycle: exhaustion leads to decreased performance, which triggers self-criticism, which drives you to push harder.

Eventually, your body forces rest through illness or burnout.

How to Do It Well:

• Reframe rest as productive. Your brain consolidates learning during rest. Creativity emerges during rest. Rest isn’t the opposite of productivity—it’s a requirement for it.
• Schedule rest like appointments. Put it in your calendar and honor it.
• Challenge guilt thoughts. Ask: “Would I want my best friend to push through exhaustion right now?”
• Practice different types of rest: physical, mental, emotional, and sensory.

9. Speak to Yourself in Second Person During Difficult Moments

This practice uses a simple linguistic shift that creates psychological distance and activates self-support.

The biggest mistake? Staying trapped in first-person self-talk during distress.

When you think “I’m such a mess,” you’re fused with the emotion. You can’t rescue yourself when you’re tangled up in the experience.

How to Do It Well:

• Use your name or “you” during hard moments. Instead of “I’m so overwhelmed,” try “[Your name], you’re feeling overwhelmed right now. What do you need?”
• Ask yourself questions. “What would help you feel safer?” Questions engage your problem-solving mind.
• Imagine you’re your own supportive coach. Channel that wise, compassionate voice in second person.
• Practice before crisis moments. The more you use it when calm, the more accessible it becomes when you’re struggling.

10. Create a Self-Compassion Break Ritual

A self-compassion break combines mindfulness, common humanity, and self-kindness into a portable tool that takes less than five minutes.

The biggest mistake? Only attempting self-compassion practices when you’re in crisis. That’s like trying to learn to swim while drowning.

Practice when the stakes are lower so it’s accessible when the stakes are higher.

How to Do It Well:

• Use Dr. Kristin Neff’s framework:
  1. Acknowledge: “This is a moment of suffering” (mindfulness)
  2. Normalize: “Suffering is part of life” (common humanity)
  3. Offer kindness: “May I be kind to myself” (self-kindness)
• Practice daily, even when things are fine. This builds the neural pathway.
• Customize the phrases to feel authentic to you.
• Combine with soothing touch. Place your hand on your heart while speaking these phrases.

Grab a copy of Dr Kirsten Neff’s workbook: The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive

11. Practice Gratitude for Your Body’s Efforts

Your body works tirelessly to keep you alive and carry you through each day.

The biggest mistake? Treating your body like an object to be judged rather than a living system that deserves care.

You focus on appearance while your body performs millions of functions, completely unappreciated.

How to Do It Well:

• Shift from appearance to function. Instead of “I hate my stomach,” try “My stomach digests food and gives me energy.”
• Thank your body daily. Mentally thank three specific things: “Thank you, heart, for beating 100,000 times today.”
• Notice your body’s signals with curiosity. When you’re tired or hungry, approach it as information, not an inconvenience.
• Move in ways that feel good. Find enjoyable movement—whatever makes you feel alive in your body, not at war with it.

Read more: 11 Science-Backed Benefits of Gratitude You Need to Know

12. Develop a “Future Self” Compassion Practice

Self-compassion isn’t just about the present—it’s about treating your future self with care too.

The biggest mistake? Living in constant “I’ll start tomorrow” mode, making choices that prioritize immediate relief over future well-being.

The disconnect happens because you don’t see the present and future self as the same person worthy of care.

How to Do It Well:

• Visualize your future self regularly. Close your eyes and imagine yourself one day, one week, one month from now. What does that version need from today’s you?
• Ask: “What would future me thank me for?” Before decisions, check in. Future you might thank present you for going to bed early or having that hard conversation.
• Write letters between the present and future self to create dialogue and connection.
• Celebrate when you honor your future self. Notice when you make choices prioritizing long-term wellbeing.

13. Build a Self-Compassion Support System

While self-compassion is internal, it’s strengthened by people who model and encourage it.

The biggest mistake? Staying in relationships that require you to abandon self-compassion to maintain connection.

You can’t become your own best friend while surrounded by people who model being your own worst enemy.

How to Do It Well:

• Identify your self-compassion allies. Who responds to your struggles with kindness? Who celebrates your wins authentically? Spend more time with these people.
• Set boundaries with self-criticism bonding. When someone invites you into mutual shame, decline: “Actually, I’m trying to be kinder to myself these days.”
• Find communities practicing self-compassion. Join online groups, take classes, or attend workshops.
• Model self-compassion for others. When you speak kindly about yourself and acknowledge struggles without shame, you permit others to do the same.

Self-Compassion is Not The Reward—It’s The Path

You don’t have to earn your kindness; you simply need to remember you’re human. Every act of gentleness toward yourself is a step toward becoming your own best friend.

Start small. Speak kindly to yourself once today. Place a hand on your heart and say, “This is hard—and I’m doing my best.”

That single moment changes everything.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Isn’t self-compassion just making excuses?

No. It’s the opposite. Self-compassion increases accountability because it removes shame and defensiveness.

2. How long before self-compassion practices work?

You’ll feel shifts—less tension, more calm—within days. But meaningful change usually unfolds over 6–8 weeks of consistent practice. Think of it like exercise for your mind.

3. What if I never learned self-compassion growing up?

You can absolutely learn it now. Many of us grew up without emotional safety, but your brain can rewire. Each time you respond with kindness, you’re re-parenting yourself with the love you deserved.