"Compassion is a Verb"

Compassion (noun): sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others. 

Recently, I was asked why I was so good at demonstrating empathy, compassion, and caring for other people but was demonstrably terrible at showing it for myself.

I was stumped. 

I have no idea why we are so often our harshest critic. Why we are so often more critical, more judgmental, more unrealistic in our expectations for ourselves, less forgiving, less understanding, and less compassionate for the mistakes and failures we, ourselves, make. Am I not as human as the person whom I just showed my sincerest compassion to?

Isn’t mindfulness a key component of self-compassion?