Anyway, Who Is This Inner Critic?

A note from peter@thewealthyattitude.com for Monday August 10 2009

Welcome to a shiny new week.

At the end of last week everything seemed to go a little nutsy around here. A whole bunch of stuff was going on in TwitterVille, FacebookLand, GoogleBurg, and it was all compounded by my own lack of understanding just how much of this cyberdiddly thing really works.

Many of you didn't get to see Sir Laurence Olivier as he does an amazing job narrating the Theme from Time. So when you have four minutes do watch it, itb will set you up for the day.

Today though, we have a delicious offering from our friend Thea Westra. You'll really enjoy it as she aske the question we've all thought about....

Anyway, Who Is This Inner Critic?

by Thea Westra

That is it! I have had enough... and who is this Inner Critic person anyhow? I do not even remember the day when I originally put that character on my personal management team. Then, to top it all off, as well as insidiously positioning itself as my second in command, I find that much of its time on the job is spent on spreading lies and malicious rumours!

Here is the clincher though, I cannot remove this disdainful little character, it constantly eludes me. It has been with me so long and its voice is so embedded in my subconscious thoughts, it is often indistinguishable from the more logical and conscious conversations that I might have with myself.

Do you know that this character even has cultural attributes, and depending on the environment in which we were raised, it will have you believe many things as absolute truth? Mark Twain once suggested, "Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." Those kinds of internalized beliefs are fortified by the community of people surrounding you. For example, the tall poppy syndrome that is so much a cultural cliché in my country (Australia), might suppress many from even contemplating exciting projects that could expose them to prominence.

"Reality is made by agreement. Agreement is created when two or more similar or identical images are projected and fused. The more similar or identical images that are fused from more sources, the more solid the agreement and the more real the reality. Reality is not truth. The more solid the reality, the more untruth it contains." A quote by Alan C. Walter, from "Gods in Disguise".

I am putting in place an Inner Champion to over ride anything that I am advised, by this Inner Critic. With all future decisions, I will seek my initial advice from the Inner Champion, and especially when I strongly suspect that I am receiving false information from Inner Critic.

To challenge the information I get from the Inner Critic I will ask questions of it, such as, "Where did you get that information?", "How are you so certain about this?" or "Is that really true?" I then call my Inner Champion into the room to join the conversation and to hear what it may have to say on the matter.

A great way to call forward your Inner Champion, in everyday situations, is by having an affirmation or mantra to envision, feel and repeat as you go through the day. It is useful to change those daily or they will eventually become invisible, and the Inner Critic steps in immediately, sidelining any contribution from the Inner Champion. Some sample affirmations might be, "I choose to always be enthusiastic", "I choose to be crystal clear about what I want to achieve" or "I choose to win and help others win".

Reduce the power that your Inner Critic holds over you, by avoiding giving it a label of being "bad" and by giving your Inner Champion a "good" label. That will give both these characters an elevated sense of importance, causing disharmony. Conversations would then be confrontational instead of open dialogue. Remain engaged in open enquiries and conversations that explore possibilities. It is common for us to feel that we must remove something that is "bad" and this gives our Inner Critic much more of our focus and energy than it deserves!

By having our Inner Champion engaged in conversation with our Inner Critic, we are distancing ourselves and we can more easily hear what both are saying to us. Stand on the outside, looking in. Be a fly on the wall in the conversation. Remembering that you cannot change anything you do not know is there.

It is important to start hearing the internal dialogue between Inner Champion and Inner Critic. When you reject what either of these two characters bring to the table, you will not hear anything that they have to offer, and you may miss something of which you really want to be aware. That is their secret way of keeping you in the dark about who, or what, is really running the show when it comes to creating your own life and expanding your personal power.

Thea Westra is the senior thought leader, at her Forward Steps site. She resides in Perth, Australia with her ultra-supportive partner Greg. Thea publishes a monthly ezine (among many other publications and products) at http://www.forwardsteps.com.au Enjoy her life success blogs at http://www.timeformylife.com/blogs.htm and get personally connected here, http://www.ask-thea-about.com