Investigating Your Inner Critic: A Reality Check for Our Mind Monsters
“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” —Norman Vincent Peale
Not enough of something. Too much of something. Why can’t you be more this, that or the other?
Oh, the infamous and ever-insidious inner critic. We all have one that has set up shop somewhere in the recesses of our psyches. Sure, it might take on various forms, depending on its host, but not a soul escapes its clutches...not entirely. Sometimes, it’s sharp and devastating. Other times, it feels less substantial and more manageable.
What form does your inner critic latch onto, and what helps you put the defamer, the doubter, the disparager in its rightful place?
Here are some starter questions to help challenge your inner hater:
What is the evidence that supports this thought, and what is the evidence to the contrary? Is this thought fact or fiction?
What is another way to see this situation?
What are the shades of gray here?
Am I being too hard on myself?
What would a kind friend say?
Is this thought helpful, useful? Is it constructive or just plain critical? Is this thought serving me in any way?
What does history show me?
What is worst-case scenario?
Is this really what I want to spend my precious time thinking?
The true antidote to the inner critic lies in strengthening your inner challenger, your voice of reason, your champion of compassion...or whatever alternative force will shed some light on the darkness your inner critic comfortably dwells in.
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”
—Brene Brown
