Our minds rarely stop and the chatter of thoughts persists. It gives us the running commentary of everything that is going on in our lives.
If we were to write it down, it would be the script of everything that we see, hear, do, discuss, observe, experience and feel as we go about our daily lives. The same way you talk to others in conversation, your Inner Voice runs lots of conversations with you. What does yours say?
Is your Inner Voice a Critic or a Cheerleader?
Do you already know your Inner Voice? Perhaps you know it as a Critic all too well? If you are not too sure, consider the following:
If you think 90,000 thoughts a day – how many of them are about you?
Think about what you say to yourself, rather than about or to others.
Who does your inner voice reflect?
Where did it learn it’s script?
Does it quote the voices of authority you have had in your life?
Does it represent the voice of social conditioning?
Does anything you say to yourself sound like a critic?
e.g. “I’m an idiot” when you drop something
“I could never do that” – your own dream killer
Have you found your other IC – your Inner Cheerleader?
Do you hear the voice that shouts you on, encourages you to just keep going and that you are doing a great job?
Would it be possible for you to hear that voice, as much, if not more than your Inner Critic?
Whilst your critic is loud, abrasive, insensitive and cutting, your cheerleader is a stark contrast. It’s a softer, gentler, warm voice, it comes from the heart. It is a voice that believes in you. A voice that always wants to emerge more, desperately wanting more air-time.
Your cheerleader voice sounds like the very best mothering you could get. It is a soft, stead, strong voice that holds hope, joy, passion, optimism and one that just simply but always sees and believes in you. Just the way you are – right now.
Through our thoughts and feelings, we are creating our own reality. Nothing and nobody on this planet is perfect and we should stop expecting ourselves to be. You are fine exactly as you are right now. Changing your thoughts will change your experience.
What if you were to just laugh when you drop something?
What if you were to believe you are ready for a new challenge or opportunity?
Stopping your Inner Critic and it’s rant, brings you nearer to your true essesnce. If your mind holds the criticism, your heart holds the cheerleader. Your heart also knows the answers, how to silence the critic and awaken the cheerleader.
Steps to stopping your Inner Critic
- Write down one Inner Critics thought [ask your mind]
- Where does it come from or what or who triggers it?
- Ask yourself – is this thought really true?
- How does it make you feel?
- What would you be or what would you do without it? [ask your heart]
- What thought or feeling do you need to replace it with?
Give it some time to settle and enjoy “wearing” your new feeling. Any time you hear the old critic arising, catch it! Recognize it as just a thought that no longer serves you and let it float on by, like a cloud in the sky.
Once you have removed one critical thought from your vocabulary, go back through the process again.
Whenever you hear your Inner Critic firing up; sit, breathe, meditate if you can and become aware that your mind is just running a record. You can chose at any time to flip over that record and play a different song.
Get to know and spend time listening to your hearts voice, your intuition, the voice of your soul – find your Inner Cheerleader!
Feel what it has to say – Believe what it has to say
