Day 9 - post about being critical of self

i didnt realise until doing this work just how self critical I am. I knew I had a lot of negatic thoughts, but I didn't differentiate between the worrying what if thoughts, the pressure of must do this correctly, I must heal quickly thoughts and the self critical, you will fail at that, you aren't good enough, they might laugh at you etc etc.

I suffer with GAD, so am used to these negative thoughts, but it was only recently that I started making some small progress. I read Claire weekes books and was able to treat the thoughts as just that, the consequence of an over tired mind. Now I know about thinner critic, I'm trying to treat him like a school yard bully and just laugh at his suggestions/ get on with My day.

It's certainly not easy to do, but at least I have some perspective now and don't feel like I'm going mad, or I'm just this completely negative and horrible person.


Small progress, but quite profound.

If anyone has any other pointers on how to deal with these issues, I would be all ears as always

Thanks

 

Hi Ferndale37,

This is great!

Working with the Inner Critic is very important for many people with TMS. Your awareness can cut through the old inner relationship with the Inner Critic, especially by talking to it, with strength and dismissal, as you are doing. A good book that explores this is Soul Without Shame, by Byron Brown. You understand this inner voice is a common human experience, and you learn more techniques to deal with it.

In terms of TMS, think about how your Inner Child is feeling in relationship to the Inner Critic. This, regardless of your success in disengaging from the Inner Critic attacks will give you evidence of why you have TMS. I mean by this, that by seeing the true cause of TMS, you undermine its reason to operate. You're seeing through the distraction (TMS) to the actual content (feelings of Inner Child) it is trying to hide from you. Therefore this is very helpful.

Andy B

 

Hi, Ferndale. There are some good videos on Youtube about how to overcome self criticism.