Human beings are complex and difficult to comprehend and there are moments where we don’t understand ourselves. It is easy to be hard on ourselves and analyse the consequences of our actions. Being too critical of every move that we make can have harmful effects on our minds and body

We all have an inner critic who keeps us safe from any wrongdoings we might do by overthinking and it also makes us punish ourselves for every minor inconvenience. As explained by Sigmund Freud, we have levels in our subconscious brain that help us make our decisions and handle the consequences of those actions. These levels are id, ego, and superego. 

So why do we feel the need to critically comment on our actions, whether right or wrong? The only way to control our lives is by critically analyzing every small incident which makes us feel that we are in control of our lives and this control may be necessary for children who grew up with having none. 

Here are some of the reasons that encapsulate the very background of our inner critic: 

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Instead of letting our inner critic run rampant, we need to get it under control which ultimately will benefit our mental health and we would not be afraid to take risks and challenges. But, how do we do that? How do we tame our inner critic without the fear of failure? It is very simple, we need to take certain baby steps to improve our mental block for ourselves. 

There are various ways to promote positive self-talk which provides the release of happy hormones, namely serotonin and dopamine. Here are a few of the ways that we can adopt to ensure that we are on the right path in promoting positive self-talk for ourselves:

Awareness

Observing our behaviors and our changes in mood patterns is beneficial to understanding which aspect of our lives provides us with happy hormones. Reducing negative self-talk is the go-to move for increasing awareness about our inner critic and replacing that with positive self-talk daily. 

Challenge negative thoughts

If we ever catch ourselves thinking negatively about the various aspects that make up who we are as an individual, we have to provide evidence that proves otherwise and this will help us remember who we are and the various struggles and adversities we have overcome to be this person who we are today. This is an important step for building positive self-talk as we remind ourselves of our strengths, our achievements, and our capabilities. 

Practice gratitude

We have been given this chance to be the best version of ourselves and that includes being grateful for what we have and what we will gain along the way of our healing journey. This would also help us understand how lucky we are to have this chance of self-improvement and would eventually result in positive self-talk and would help us tame our inner critic who is always looking out for our negatives and our mistakes. 

Focus on your strengths

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, the important bit comes after recognizing what they are. Making a note of our strengths and keeping that in mind every time our inner critic comes out to play, is beneficial as it would increase our chances at optimism and the way we look at ourselves. Glossing over our strengths also provides satisfaction to our minds that we are not as bad as our inner critic makes us out to be. 

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Surround yourself with friends and loved ones

Surrounding ourselves with people who love us for the person that we are and this would result in us believing in ourselves which would ultimately result in positive self-talk and would make us feel happy and loved. Our friends and family only want the best for us, therefore spending time with them reminds us of our value. 

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Set realistic goals

Keeping realistic and achievable goals would help boost our self-esteem when we achieve these goals which would make us feel better about ourselves as we celebrate our small wins in whichever way possible. 

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It is not easy to handle taming your inner critic by yourself, which is why numerous resources and helplines could be beneficial for an individual who might be struggling to tame their inner critic. At Heart It Out, we guarantee a vast support system that will help you in every way possible! 

Let’s connect and begin our journey of self-love and building various ways of positive self-talk which would be beneficial for us to build the kind of future that we have envisioned for ourselves!