Heading up straight.
Pushing the crown of the head up towards the ceiling.
Let's just take a few deep breaths on our own.
And I just notice how the body is already settling.
Okay,
So we'll now do a guided meditation on the dysfunctional critic modes based on experiencing schema therapy from the inside out by Joan Farrell and Ida Shaw.
Okay,
So what is the main kind of punitive or demanding message that you get?
How is it that you're kind of goading yourself,
Harassing yourself?
Go ahead and identify that voice.
What is it saying to you?
Okay.
And so there are reasons for how we are.
All this is due to conditioning or at least partly due to conditioning.
So let's ask ourselves,
Where did this come from?
This voice,
Who does it sound like from my past?
This might be a parent,
Teacher,
Maybe even society,
Culture.
Go ahead and investigate that.
Now,
Investigate how this message or these messages create problems in your lives,
Create symptoms.
It might bring about the coping modes of overcompensation,
Avoidance,
Surrender.
Go ahead and investigate this.
Okay,
So now bring up a particular scene,
A particular situation where this symptom or problem presents itself and that it's partly created by this inner critic voice.
So bring that up now.
See how the inner critic is exacerbating the situation.
And then what does this feel like in the body?
And the inner critic has kind of come in and then unleashed all this certain signature in the body.
And now notice what it's like in the mind.
There are all these stereotyped,
Repetitive,
Patterned behaviors that arise in the mind,
Mental states that arise.
Go ahead and notice those.
Are you being pushed around by your critic voice?
Are you submitting to it?
Are you just shutting down and avoiding it?
Are you fighting against it via an overcompensation mode?
Just study all of this.
This is interesting.
This is self-discovery.
What are the critics' message?
What's the thing that the critic says to you?
And now step out of that scene.
Here we're going to work on our differentiation abilities and just see,
Oh yeah,
Here's this voice and kind of step out in such a way that you're just observing it with total equanimity,
Total peace.
It's like,
Oh yeah,
Yeah,
Sure,
Listen to this.
Have a sense of interest,
Curiosity about this voice.
What schemas does this voice activate?
What beliefs,
Expectations?
I also just notice how it's all very patterned,
Very predictable.
Something interesting,
Beautiful about that.
And also get this sense that you really know yourself.
You see this.
Oh yeah,
Uh-huh,
I totally get this.
I know this.
I know what's happening.
So you see how the critic voice activates schemas and then in order to emotionally regulate out of those schemas,
You have to engage with the coping mode,
Overcompensation,
Surrender or avoidance.
So go ahead and investigate what that looks like for you and see how this is totally necessary.
This is the kind of body,
Mind's answer to how you're going to survive.
It's through one of these modes or many of the modes.
Go ahead and study this now.
The cat totally,
Of course,
Or as I behave this way.
And also notice how one mode might lead to another,
Maybe you start an overcompensation,
You get so burned out that you just start avoiding and then you might fall into like a surrender mode.
Go ahead and study how all the modes play out in that way.
That's right.
And now,
So when the critic mode has been engaged and then it's activated all these schemas and now all these coping modes have deployed,
How does this go?
What does this look like?
And then a very interesting question is,
Does this actually meet my needs?
Is this actually a help?
Go ahead and study that with curiosity and interest.
Be clear,
We're not shaming ourselves.
It's completely understandable that you engage in the mode,
But we're just trying to see in a fair minded way if this strategy is effective at meeting your legitimate needs.
Just noticing all of this.
And now let's take a minute to differentiate like a healthy,
Superego type kind of motivational state or motivational part from these dysfunctional critic modes.
So notice how your dysfunctional critic modes are patterned in an inflexible way and are never satisfied.
Go ahead and notice that.
And now notice how your superego,
So this like healthy superego,
Which this would be in schema therapy,
A sub function of the healthy adult self,
That it is satisfied,
That it encourages you to do the work,
To get the thing done,
To strive to be better,
But that it is happy.
It is made happy at a certain point and satisfied,
That it's responsive and flexible.
So real,
It's a make it a real point to distinguish these two modes.
One's healthy and one's unhealthy.
That's right.
Okay,
So then here in a minute we'll wrap it up.
But now just look back.
What was this like?
What did you learn?
What were the insights here?
Also reflect on how you saw clearly that this critic voice,
In a sense,
Is just this impression from your conditioning,
Maybe from your parents,
From a teacher,
Somebody else,
Society.
See how it's conditioning and it's not you.
That helps you differentiate yourself from the critic.
And also see how you can see how when you make the choice to undermine the negative critic,
That you won't get confused and throw the baby out with the bathwater,
That you'll still be able to keep your healthy superego functions.
Notice that.
This is discriminating wisdom.
And now reflect,
Aha,
I have done inner exploration.
I know myself better.
I've worked through some of my conditioning here.
And now notice how you now expect life to go a bit smoother.
You're going to be able to manage your critic voice,
Just generally manage life better.
Go ahead and see that now.
Really taking that in.
Okay,
Good.
Count from five to one and when I get to one,
You'll be awake and present in the room,
Settled in the experience.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Awake and present in the room,
Settled in the experience.
