Break free from the inner critic.
It doesn't matter where you are in this world,
Whether you're male or female,
What job you do,
Your social standing,
The money that you've got in the bank.
Each and every one of us has that internal voice inside our head.
You know the one.
The one that criticises us.
The one that threatens to unravel everything that we've worked so hard to achieve.
That voice in your head,
That inner critic that tells you you cannot do things and calls you stupid and idiot in those moments of upset.
Each and every one of us has that internal dialogue playing out in our head.
And oftentimes it is the inner critic that comes out to play when we least need it to.
Some might say it's the way of our brain keeping us safe.
Our brain naturally has a negativity bias.
It's looking for danger in every single moment.
And when we step out of that,
It wants to bring us back home to the comforts that we know so well.
For many of us,
That inner critic have adopted words that other people have shouted at us and screamed at us and accused us of throughout our lives.
Labels,
Names that aren't even ours.
We've incorporated as our own.
But we have a choice.
We have a choice to be able to quieten that inner critic down.
So one of the first things that I'm going to invite you to do is just close your eyes.
And I want you to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
And I want you to think about the last time your inner critic came out to play.
Quieten down a little bit.
Just to soften its voice.
To be quiet completely.
So when you think of telling your inner critic off,
Telling it to be quiet,
Inviting it to be slightly less intrusive on your thoughts,
What is the name of your inner critic?
Mine is called Penelope.
And she's incredibly posh.
And when she comes out to play,
She sneers down her nose at the failures and mistakes that I make.
However,
We all have a choice.
And when I speak to Penelope,
I can quiet her down.
Sometimes I do shout at her and tell her to be quiet.
But one of the things that I do,
And I'm going to invite you to do the same,
Is just start to become aware of when your inner critic comes out to play.
What is it that triggers them into action?
Is it stepping out of your comfort zone?
Is it being around certain individuals?
Is it trying things that you've never tried before?
Is it stress?
What is it that triggers your inner critic to come out to play?
Because once we have an awareness of those triggers,
Then we can prepare for their arrival,
Like we would a guest that comes into our home.
When we have that awareness,
And when we can feel and sense the arrival of this unwanted guest,
We can invite them to turn right round and head in the opposite direction.
Even if you find yourself using words that don't feel good,
You get to choose to change them.
For a long time,
My favorite was,
You idiot.
This was something that I heard a lot growing up as a child,
You idiot.
And I changed it round to the fact that I did an idiotic thing,
But I was not an idiot.
I did a stupid thing,
But I was not stupid.
We all do things,
Some that don't necessarily make us proud,
Some that push us into a corner,
But we are not the labels that our inner critic give us.
The action can sometimes be.
So today,
I invite you to name your inner critic.
I invite you to become aware of the triggers that brings them into your headspace.
I invite you to send them on their way and to change the labels that they give you.
Failure,
Mistakes,
Things not going to plan are part of the human experience.
And rather than berate ourselves or criticize ourselves,
We have an opportunity to pick ourselves up,
Brush ourselves down,
Acknowledge those things that didn't quite go to plan,
Quieten down our inner critic,
And choose a better way.
.
