Transform Your Inner Critic For Greater Self-Love
"You yourself, as much as anybody else in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."
Buddha
Do you ever feel dissatisfied about how critical you’re being with yourself… but you can’t seem to stop?
We all have an inner critic or "critical inner voice," and sometimes it’s so deeply ingrained that it’s in the background all the time - so much so that it seems like a part of us.
Your inner critic isn’t actually part of you, it’s the self-image you developed, inherited or took on as your own because of the experiences you've had up until now and what you learned early in life.
Your mind is just doing it’s job repeating all of that information back to you to guide you, because you haven’t installed anything different yet.
But it’s important to create a new self-image when the old one is limiting and no longer working, because when you transform it, you discover that this not only makes welcome greater abundance in your life in all the ways that matter to you, you're also better able to shine your light, give your gifts and be the best YOU you can be.
Here are 4 tips to help you do this.
4 Tips to Transform Your Inner Critic
#1 Recognize the inner critic for what it is
As you become more aware that the inner critic isn’t you, and it’s not even the truth, you begin to have some perspective. You don’t have to take it seriously.
In fact, when you have a thought like, “I’ll never be good enough” “Why would anyone be attracted to me?” or “I should have known I didn’t have what it takes” you can literally press pause on that thought and say, “Not today!” and replace it with a positive thought such as the Emilé Coué empowered statement, "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better." Over time you'll begin to know and believe this and feel differently about yourself.
#2 Have compassion with yourself
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it looked pretty messy while it was being built. No matter what is going on inside or outside of you, you can tell yourself “This is what it looks like as my life is transforming.”
Often times things look super chaotic, unrealistic or off-track as they’re coming together because we want a straight line to our goal with milestones along the way. But the path to transformation can look like nothing’s happening in our outer world, even as we’re doing the internal work. Know that you are rewiring your thinking and building a strong inner foundation that is required to support the exponential growth in your outer results.
And with enough repetition and sufficiency of the new self-image that you are wiring in and living from, there is a tipping point and a massive shift happens that seems like it came out of the blue. Expect this, and stay on course.
#3 Celebrate the actions you are taking in service of growth
Instead of waiting to celebrate an outcome, celebrate the journey. Feel good about yourself for every action step you take.
Not only does this improve your self-image and diminish your inner critic, it accelerates your transformation by putting you in a higher vibrational mindset and way of thinking.
#4 Practice gratitude
Even though your inner critic may have been strong and a little vicious, it’s not your only source of input. Think of all the ways you ARE supported and all of the ways your vision IS coming into form. There is a deep well of support inside and outside of you, not only by other people and your power of thought, but the universe itself.
Look at how up to this point everything has somehow come together and worked out against all odds in your life! And now that you are more intentional and aware than ever before, you are moving closer and closer to your vision every day.
With these four tips, you can transform your inner critic with greater ease and grace.
That’s important, because when we feel like we need to change we often get tense and feel shame that we’re not already good enough.
But it’s not actually about that at all. Transforming your inner critic is a journey you're choosing to embark on, that can take you to places you’ve never expected. It’s awesome!
It has nothing to do with your value or being enough.
Look at it as an adventure that you get to enjoy, that moves you into your vision and allows you to enjoy this life more and more.
You can do this, and you are definitely worth it.
Enjoy!