Working with the voice of the inner critic

The other day, I was getting ready for a zoom workshop about the inner critic, so naturally my mind started to go there and my critic started having all sorts of weird and unhelpful ramblings just to show itself clearly to me.

Some days it can be like a silent assassin, so in many ways I was enjoying the loudness.
I started humming and singing to disrupt the critical voice, and that helped my brain to focus on other things.

I started moving my body, dancing to change the shape of the situation.

Then, I began talking in French.

I had a whole conversation with my inner critic in French.

(And I don't even speak french.)

but it loved it.

I started laughing at how weird it is to be human sometimes and a new part of this inner saboteur relationship started to emerge, and it felt great. In that moment, spoonfuls of the fear melted away.

The inner critic is a vital and vivacious voice inside us.

It’s a marker of what’s coming to the surface to essentially be understood and healed.

The loop can stop playing once it’s understood.

That's when the peace emerges.

The more we push it away, the stronger it wants to communicate

So changing the form of communication was fun and ridiculous and it made me think of Slava the Russian clown, who has a delicate artistry to draw out the beauty of ridiculousness to comment on how grief stricken and glorious we are to be able to feel and experience in life around us, when sometimes not much is making sense…

Some days it's not so playful, others it's the jester.

How can you relish getting to know the critic?

It can be theatrical.
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And also, just the sweet medicinal message you are searching for.