Quiet Your Inner Critics With These Simple Steps

Does any of this sound like any of your inner monologue(s)?:

• 'Who am I to do/say/be that?'

• 'Yea right, that works for them, but it's not going to work for me.'

• 'Why can't I just figure it out/get it right already?'

• 'If only I could just ____ (insert self-flagellation)!'

• 'If I were _______ (smarter/prettier/thinner/more popular/etc) things would be different.'

• 'They're judging me.'

I could go on but I suspect that whether or not any of these resonate, that you've contented with these unkind voices in your mind from time to time.

How do you know which to believe? And do you recognize that they're not all truth-telling in the first place?

Because of this very human experience, I was intrigued to pick up the book Chatter: The Voice in our Head, why it Matters, and How to Harness it. Here are some of the best tips and strategies I pulled from it:

Distance yourself from the chatter: 

• Use second-person language (you vs me/I).

• Imagine coaching a friend through that with which you're contending.

• Broaden your perspective to remember bigger-picture examples of times you've endured. 

• See how it fits into your life as a whole.

• Reframe it as an opportunity rather than a threat.

• Pay attention to the body's cues and regulate them

• Remember that this is normal and you're not alone in this.

• Write expressively about it to release and process the thoughts. 

Environmental supports:

• Create order and organization in your physical space (clutter can feel like a loss of control, so creating order in our physical space can be a positive counterbalance).

• Get more exposure to nature (this replenishes the brain's resources as well as quiets the mind).

• Experience inspiring things (the feelings of awe and curiosity can be antidotes).

• Move your body (I added this one because it gets you back into the moment, not a projection of the past or future and is a pattern interrupt).