I love my morning workout as it has been one of my daily routines to wake up my body, sustain the energy & prep my mind for the day.  So, besides working my heart out in the gym, I find it intriguing to people-watch, especially seeing guys & gals (early 20’s ~) walking around with embellished tattoos.  It’s like visiting a sweaty body art gallery!  Lol

This led me thinking about the “secret tattoo”- the invisible one that lies in all of us, carves deeply as on a tree trunk.  Do you have a hard time going through the day because “It” is just talking to you, non-stop?

As you know, words are powerful.  The tricky thing is we don’t see them, ever.  We do not see thoughts or words flying around in physical forms, it doesn’t mean that we have zero liability.  Everything is energy.   In fact, we really walk around with these words “on” us.  The words we tell ourselves matter.  Looking back, I realized that I used to trash talk myself a lot in the past.

I have a script for me that says “I’m not good enough,” “how come I am not doing better than…,” “I’m never going to amount to anything,” without realizing those words were not bringing me any benefit, but detrimental inner tattoos.  When I look at myself in the mirror & guess what I see, nothing.  It’s so damn invisible, but I knew it was on me.  Those words were like sticky glue, which had secretively sabotaged my self-esteem for years!

And that’s why ever since I only use words that are serving my best interest at hand.  I choose only to use words that have inspired me so I can continue to evolve, instead of feeling imprisoned by life.  A lot of us are walking around with these inner tattoos, and some of them know and seem ok with it.  But I know many people don’t like them.

So, ask yourself what kind of inner tattoos you’ve been carrying around every day?  Are they helping you or are they hurting you?  You become what you tell yourself most often.  So, remind yourself, whatever you speak, will manifest, even if you don’t see it.

Here, I’d like to share five ways to silence your inner critic and get them working for you.

1. Don’t reject thoughts. 

I realize that every single thought that we have is like a little kid in us.  If we abandon a child and keep saying to him/her repeatedly that “you are not good enough,” then what happens?  Most likely, they’ll end up believing in that because they feel unwanted and soon they turn wild.  And then, they create havoc.

Many of us have thoughts that don’t serve us because we don’t accept every thought and we treat them differently.  We have to practice the same level of compassion toward every single “child” because they are all part of us.  Our inner critic serves a purpose.  Sure, said is easier than done.  But, if we treat all thoughts equally, without judging them, they will most likely take the back seat & turn from being our greatest foe to our loving friend.

2. No saints

In our society, we are told to strive for an ideal which doesn’t even exist.  Knowing that we are all human and, we are not perfect.  The reason why so many people have inner critic screaming at them and torturing them with pain is that they are trying to be PERFECT (yes, I’m talking about myself too, a recovering perfectionist.)

We need to understand that there is no such word called “perfection.”  There is only WIP (Work-In-Progress).  When you are willing to release the “unrealistic perfection” (the evil plan of your ego) and instead, tell yourself that “I’m not here to be perfect, but I’m here to be real,” you might be surprised how much better you’d feel.

3. Find acceptance within yourself

Anything that you are not feeling “cool/desirable” about yourself, I want you to give it more love today.  So for me, I used to think that the hump on my nose is a facial flaw, which makes me feel insecure at my younger age.  But now, I’m totally fine with that and love the fact this is one of my unique features, which was given from my dad apparently.  If you support yourself, you start to appreciate the tiniest imperfection as a “unique artwork” that distinguishes you from others.

4. Mistakes are the greatest lessons

This is life.  Things do happen.  I had the tendency to play it safe, but I realized that I had overprotected myself from expanding.  Inner critics are here to teach us lessons so to connect within and see the opposite side of the story that we’ve been struggling with.  To move up to the next level, we need to make mistakes so we can grow and evolve.  A clean slate just can’t do the magic, seriously.

5. Let go of EGO and stop comparing

 As long as you judge yourself, that nasty mean voice gets only louder.   You got to realize that you need only to focus and run your own marathon, not competing with the person next to you.  If not, you lose all the joy in the journey by doing so.

Knowing that each one of us is created with unique talents and gifts.  You are one of a kind.  A tree doesn’t compete with other trees because it’s only a tree in the ecosystem.  Everything is here to benefit everything else.  It’s collaboration, not competition.  Comparing to other people is the greatest thief of happiness!

6. Never externalize your power

When you agree on the negative opinions of other people, you only help your inner critic grow.  You become the victim of other people’s criticism.  You need to support yourself every single step of the way.

On a practical level, start making your actions stronger than your words.  If people are saying you are wrong about something, then it’s a great opportunity to learn how to back it up physically.  This means you need to challenge yourself to go through your old memory bank and remind yourself ALL those things (milestones, little wins, etc.) that you thought you’d never have come out of.

Remember:  You are magnificent (even if you don’t give yourself enough credits for)!

So, start activating yourself positively by using more encouraging words with quality intention.  We have approximately 60,000 thoughts every single day.  How many of them are uplifting?  Are you the prisoner of your past?  Do you feel anybody is out there to get you?

When there is no enemy within, there is no enemy outside.

Sending you lots of love, joy, peace and happiness,

xoxo,

Jen