“What is this self inside us, this silent observer,
Severe and speechless critic, who can terrorize us
And urge us on to futile activity,
And in the end, judge us still more severely
For the errors into which his own reproaches drove us?”

-- T. S. Eliot

I grew up stifled and paralyzed by my own internal critic. While I was always polite and gentle with others, my inner critic flogged me with vicious judgments: “You’re so stupid, ugly, clumsy, shallow…”

Believing this voice, I was always terrified that I would do something foolish or shameful. And so I lost all spontaneity. I didn’t trust myself to do anything right and I carried a deep shame about who I was.

It has taken a decade but I have largely freed myself from my inner critic’s grip. First, I needed to become aware of when the inner critic was speaking. Then I learned to step back from this voice and believe, “This is not true. This is not me.”

Our thoughts create our reality. Rather than focusing on what is wrong, I now want to discover who I really am.

Bruised and beaten by your inner critic? I highly recommend the book, “Embracing Your Inner Critic” by Hal and Sidra Stone.

~ Patrice

"Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself."