As humans, it’s very typical for us to be critical of ourselves and in some circles, that kind of critical thinking is encouraged. There is a common notion that being self-critical protects us from appearing overly confident or conceded. However, there is a fine line between being “humble” and allowing your limiting beliefs to run the show.
When we become so self-critical that we can no longer hear our inner guidance — that’s when it becomes a problem and detrimental to our personal growth.
You see, in order to be able to tune in and allow yourself to receive Divine guidance, you have to first believe that you are worthy of it. When you’re too busy thinking about all of your flaws, mistakes, faults, what-have-you, there is no space for enlightenment.
We all experience some version of an inner critic within ourselves, but there are practices for how to quiet this narrative to make room for a new, more empowering one. Below you will find 3 tips for how to quiet your inner critic so that you can open yourself to Divine guidance.
Go back to the core of the thought
When it comes to limiting beliefs and the overly critical way we think about ourselves, there is often an origin story to go with it. To help quiet this voice, and possibly even get rid of it for good, it can be very helpful to think back to where the thought originated.
For example, I had a client who was very unhappy with her body weight. She often talked about how she disliked the way her body looked. When I asked her at what point in her life she started feeling this way about herself, she realized that her self-critical thoughts stemmed back from as early as she could remember. She acknowledged that her mom was hypercritical of her own body — she hated shopping, she often talked about “mom weight”, and she was always expressing how bad she felt about her body.
Once she pinpointed where the belief stemmed from, she was able to better understand that these were actually her mother’s thoughts that she had adopted.
Contest the thought
When you are able to reflect and see where your limiting belief came from you can then expose it for what it is, and challenge your thought.
For the woman who was critical about her weight, she was able to see that she developed thoughts about her body not by what she actually felt, but based on what she learned from her mother. She was taught that women are “supposed” to not like their bodies and openly critique themselves. Yet when it came to her actual experience and inner perspective, there was no real proof backing the critical thoughts.
By exposing this truth to herself, the woman was able to contest that thought and realize that she didn’t actually hate her body. She simply thought that she was supposed to hate her body.
This allowed her to reframe her beliefs and create space for a new positive outlook on what could be true for her.
A helpful exercise to challenge your limiting beliefs or critical thoughts is to write down two different lists. One that represents what you currently think, and one that represents the actual truth. Use hard facts and logic to show yourself that you are likely being too hard on yourself.
Create a new thought.
Once your limiting belief is exposed and contested, there is an opportunity to replace it with an empowering thought to help promote internal healing and personal growth. Many people refer to these empowering thoughts as affirmations.
There is great power in repetition and conscious positive action. By repeating affirmations over time, new neuropathways are created which helps in forming and strengthening new habits.
For the woman who was critical of her body, I would recommend these affirmations:
- My body does so many amazing things for me, I am so grateful to be in this body.
- I feel beautiful today.
- I love “x,y,z” about my body.
Shifting her thoughts to a place of acceptance and self-love, allows her to focus on what she loves about herself, rather than being self-critical.
Your mindset has such an impact on your personal development journey, and with these subtle shifts you can truly open yourself up to limitless possibilities.
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