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We all have an inner critic, negative self-talk that, oftentimes, gets louder when we least expect and require it.
This is a simple tool that was shared with me and has really helped me quiet that inner critic. By the way, naming your inner critic is also a great way to dissociate from her. Mine is named Marsha. I wrote more about her – and this exercise here.
Episode Transcript:
Have you ever sat with a photo album, scanning through the pictures, filled with incredibly happy memories? And just, it physically fills you with joy and happiness and laughter, as you see your big smiles in a wedding party or hanging out with your friends or playing at a birthday party when you were seven?
When we go back and look at photo albums, we look at moments captured in time. And we remember just those moments. Very rarely do we let our brain go and remember the bigger context, remember the stresses and the fears and the overwhelm that we were feeling in those moments, we let ourselves get sucked in to the photo.
And this happens when you sit and look at old photos with your children to they love looking at pictures of themselves as a baby, doing, making silly faces and playing with toys that they’ve long forgotten.
One of my favorite exercises for learning how to embrace your inner child – and heal emotional wounds and get rid of your inner critic – is to take one of those pictures of yourself as a younger child, smiling, happy, a picture that when you look at it, you just feel expansive, glow, shine from within you.
And you take that picture and you put it in a frame.
And you put it up on your desk.
Or you take a picture of it and you make it the background on your phone screen.
And whenever you notice the mind monkeys, the mental junk, start to come up telling you that you’re not good enough, you look at that picture of yourself as a child smiling, radiant.
Look at you. And start speaking to that child.
Because the thing is that that child, she still lives within you. And every time that you hear that negative speak, she hears it too.
When you look at that child, it is really hard to speak… can… critically.
(Sorry, I lost my words there for a second!)
It is really hard to speak critically to a little child. And so you change the words that you use, you change your tone. And in doing that, you find the resolution for your problems faster.
You hear yourself more, you nurture and love yourself.
This is, like I said, one of my all time favorite exercises. It’s simple. It’s easy and it is so effective in changing your self-talk.
I hope you have a great day. I hope you enjoy taking time looking through the photos and picking the right one for you. And I will talk to you soon.
Transcription by Otter.ai – Disclaimer: this is a referral link. I get extra minutes added to my account if you sign up for one yourself.
About this “playcast”:
Life is messy. Kids are messy. Parenting is messy!
But, messy can be good.
To paraphrase Mrs. Frizzle, it means you’re taking chances, making mistakes, and learning.
Creative Spirit, Playful Discipline is a mini-podcast – a playcast! – for parents who want to embrace their uniqueness, shatter the “shoulds”, and find a rallying cry for their families so they can create fun, magically messy memories to last a lifetime.
