Do you ever criticize yourself? If you don’t you’re a rare breed; most people do it all the time. Conventional mental health practice aims to “silence the critic,” and to this end teaches people methods for rationalizing and ignoring it. Not only is this ineffective much of the time, it misses the whole point of having an inner critic—growth. To connect with this growth you must process, not “silence” your critic.

But why process this hurtful inner voice or thought pattern? Why give negativity any attention at all. Wont’ that make it worse? Why not just try to ignore it, or think positive thoughts, or go to the gym and sweat it out, or smoke pot, drink a beer, watch a movie, take a Xanax, surf the internet, eat cake, work, talk, sleep...?

These distractions can help you in the moment but they won’t transform this part of your mind, and they won’t help you discover the hidden gold in this negative experience. Processing the self-critical part of your mind means engaging with it in a way that uncovers its true message and purpose; this begins the process of transmuting it from an attacker to an ally.

Your inner critic is your crucible, your calling to transformation and expansion. It’s not a meaningless, negative thought pattern that must simply zapped away. It’s a raw, unprocessed voice from your subconscious that’s part of a larger story, and it’s calling you to process it as a meaningful expression of your growth. Instead avoiding your critic or just trying to think positive thoughts, you can engage with it in a way that not only transforms it but changes your whole sense of self, as well. This will further your personal growth and lead to healing, inner strength, and wisdom. Today’s episode guides you through an exercise to begin doing this.

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