At first we may not notice this inner voice of criticism. In the early parts of our spiritual journey we start to recognize its existence and may find it shocking, the vile that it projects toward us.
The most common ones for me are these “you are a failure”, ” you have too much to complete, you will never finish it”, “you are an awful mother”! We would never allow anyone else to say this to us, yet we put up with it and worse, believe it all the time 24/7.
The sad thing is, this voice may be trying to protect you or prepare you from what may happen, but its not your friend and none of its stories are based on what’s true about you. This voice often stems from the way we perceived the world at a young age, and mimics the statements we heard the adults/caregivers in our lives say to us, to themselves and sometimes to each other.
We can try to ignore this voice, good luck with that, or reject it, or become angry at it. Truth being, it is a part of ourselves, so any emotion we project toward the inner critic is really being pointed at ourselves.
The best way, is to do the opposite of what our gut really wants. Rather than run away from it, we must become fully aware of when it appears and starts its accusations. These may start as feelings, or lack of energy (which is very much is!), pay attention to those feelings. Then listen, but not believe. Its almost like listening to the fantastical made up stories of a little child that we pay attention to with humor, amusement and love.
Listen to the inner critic with humor, amusement and love. Say, “I hear you, but I do not believe you”, or “is that so”? Once you put the spotlight on this critic it will fade away. With practice you will always hear it in the sidelines, but act only from inner wisdom and believe the truth of higher aware mind.
Thoughts? comments?