I just took a break from reading and writing for a few minutes, made myself a cup of tea, put my feet up, played with the dogs. Those rare few moments of silence were broken by the especially unhelpful voice of my inner critic. A familiar voice to many of us, I suppose?
‘You are so lazy!’
From those four words there are several possible paths to take. I could write about the challenge of ‘being’ versus ‘doing’. Or I could explore why the inner critic always seems to address me in the second person. I’ll leave exploring those for a later day when I’ve got more energy for a longer article. When I’m not feeling so lazy.
Instead I’d like to share a wonderfully simple and effective method for taking the sting out of any judgement, whether from my inner critic or from the mouth of a fellow human being.
Try this.
Add the word ‘sometimes‘.
See how easy it is?
My inner critic now says ‘You are sometimes so lazy’. Now the statement is pefectly true as I am lazy sometimes, and sometimes I’m not!
Try it with criticism you hear from someone else.
“Ian, you are really selfish and inconsiderate”
Well, yes! Sometimes I am …. and sometimes I’m generous and sensitive to others.
“Ian, you write short, throw-away posts”
Sometimes I do.
