“A user-friendly guidebook to step boldly into [our] full selves—fierce and tender, kind and powerful, compassionate toward ourselves, and devoted to healing our world. I recommend this book to everyone.”—Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder of Omega Institute and bestselling author of Cassandra Speaks and Broken Open

 The author of the groundbreaking wellness classic Self-Compassion expands our notion of self-kindness and its capacity to transform our lives, showing us how to balance tender self-acceptance with fierce action to claim our power and change the world.

Although kindness and self-acceptance allow us to be our imperfect selves, the desire to alleviate suffering at the heart of this mindset isn’t always gentle: sometimes it’s fierce. We must act courageously to protect ourselves from harm and injustice, say no to others to meet our own needs, and motivate change. Gender socialization often demands that we act according to the roles assigned us by society and culture. But like yin and yang, the energies of fierce and tender self-compassion must be balanced for wholeness and well-being.

Kristin Neff explains how we can use fierce and tender self-compassion to succeed in the workplace, to engage in caregiving without burning out, to be authentic with or without a romantic relationship, and to end the silence around sexual harassment and abuse. We must develop fierceness inside us to create a healthier society, find lasting happiness, and achieve balance within ourselves to help restore balance in the world.