Behavior change can be difficult. The process of forming new habits almost always involves setbacks and struggles, and, although setbacks are normal, they are often accompanied by negative emotions and critical self-talk. Often, individuals trying to make lifestyle changes respond to setbacks with harsh self-talk and judgement. They set a goal, fall just short of reaching it, and then experience a variety of negative emotions and critical thoughts about their behavior. In addition to feeling unpleasant, negative emotions also make behavior change more difficult. Negative emotions impair the prefrontal cortex of the brain which can stunt curiosity, cognitive ability, and creative thinking. Thus, responding to failure with negativity and critical self-talk usually doesn’t lead to positive results.

Although one might think self-compassion leads to complacency, research shows that self-compassion can help individuals take responsibility for their actions and improve in the future. In 2012, researchers Juliana Breines and Serena Chen conducted four experiments to test whether self-compassion increases self-improvement motivation. They found that responding to a moral transgression, personal weakness, or a test failure with self-compassion motivates individuals to improve themselves and their performance. Additionally, a study conducted in 2007 examined whether self-compassion “moderates people’s reactions differently as a function of whether they perceive a negative event to be their fault.” The researchers found that individuals with higher levels of self-compassion were more willing to accept responsibility for their negative actions, less likely to ruminate after receiving a negative evaluation, and less likely to experience negative emotions when confronted with their mistakes.