I'm A Self-Compassion Expert & This Is How I Enter Every New Year

January is right around the corner, and while some folks out there may have resolutions set, others may feel inclined to grant themselves a bit of a break from New Year's goal setting. (After all, it's been a strange year, to say the least.)

If there was one thing, and one thing only, Neff recommends focusing on in the new year, she says it would be showing yourself more compassion.

"The idea is you switch your goals, your aspirations, and in this case, maybe your New Year's resolutions, away from any particular outcome, in terms of our desire to improve, and your goal actually becomes [to approach your] life with compassion," she explains.

And that doesn't mean you aren't going to try to be healthy and take care of yourself, she adds, but rather that you are going to shift the focus away from "getting it right," and toward "opening your heart."

Again, self-compassion isn't about complacency or giving up, Neff notes, and it may not come naturally at first. "You have to really be intentional about it, and practice, because the mind doesn't tend to go there," she says, adding, "The goal of practice is simply to be compassionate. No matter how much you mess up, you can always be compassionate toward that mess."