Is your inner critic running your life and calling the shots’ Does she stop you from really truly living the life you want’ Does she leave you feeling unsatisfied even after each and every accomplishment’
You’ve hit goal after goal, but you are still searching for more and not taking any time to appreciate what it is you are doing now! You want more and more and even though you are successful, you still are not happy’ Then, girl, you HAVE GOT TO dethrone that inner critic because she is NOT letting you live the life you deserve! Does your inner critic feel like she is part gang member (mine sure does), and she is keeping you living your best life and she is feeling good about it!
I recently sat down with Joanna Kleinman who is a licensed psychotherapist, life and corporate coach, author, podcaster, motivational speaker and the founder of Dethroning Your Inner Critic, yesss she wears multiple hats, but magic makers, SHE KNOWS HER STUFF! She has worked for years helping people live their best lives and has even invested years into making sure that her life is the best it can be, plus making sure she is at her best, mind, body and spirit wise. “If your mind is not right, then nothing else really matters.”
Sometimes, with traditional psychotherapy, you can get lost talking about the past and your feelings, which is useful, but Joanna is really all about understanding how to rewire a different mind that you are going to use moving forward. One that you are going to design a fundamentally different life with! A shift in how we handle problems or bumps along the road, a shift in how we set our goals and how we celebrate accomplishments and life in itself!
Alright, so let’s talk about those bumps in the road that we hate to speak of, or even think of. The shift in thinking about those bumps as positive. We have got to stop thinking problems, as problems, but as the opportunity to grow! Your take away. “Look at yourself and your life and approach everything that shows up in your life as an opportunity rather than a problem.” Of course, your inner critic will look at these bumps as problems, it’s just what she does, but we have got to reframe the way we look at our lives from everything is a problem to an opportunity that we can learn from and grow from!! BAMMMM! Chew on that for a little bit….
Let’s take weight loss as an example of what we are talking about above.. Weight loss is never a smooth road, right’ It’s personal GROWTH and learning different things about yourself. You will hit a bump, but instead of having that bump taking you out ask yourself what can you learn from that bump’
Many people approach weight loss as something they are going to take on in order to make their lives better and make themselves feel better. But this is where the problem lies… People look to their external circumstances and want to change their weight or business, etc. What they say is, “Once I get that goal accomplished. That will be the thing that makes me feel better about my life.” HELL YEAH, it feels good when you’ve got this healthy body, but what we WANT TO SEE is that people are taking on their weight and health because they already, love themselves, honor themselves and value themselves, RIGHT NOW! Then how you eat and how you exercise already becomes a natural expression of how you feel about yourself right now. Ya feel me…”
Stop and think about right now, what it is that you do once you have reached a goal, or did something you want to do’ What do you do after you have hit this accomplishment’ You move onto the next thing, right’ You try and figure out what it is that you can do next. YOU ARE ALWAYS CHASING the next best thing! And that is the problem with society today, we don’t take time to just stop and appreciate our accomplishments. No one takes the 5 minutes to sit down and say, what truly is a success for me’
And that right there is our inner critic. She has us in a place of lack, and we are continuously searching for the next thing that is going to make us feel the way we want to feel. Believe it or not some of the richest most successful “accomplished”.. “have it all” individuals, the people that you say if I were only like….. Guess what many of them don’t feel good enough deep down inside!
It is a tragedy that we walk around this planet with the most amazing blessings, literally all around us, but we don’t see it, because we are focused on what isn’t enough and what isn’t okay and what we need to get it. Instead, really take the time to use your mind and think about what you truly feel grateful for, and what you feel proud of right now in this moment!
Joanna calls her work “dethroning your inner critic” because we have had our inner critic mind forever, and we are going to have it forever. So, it’s not about getting rid of that old computer programming, it’s really about understanding on a very deep level where it comes from and why we have it. When she speaks to you, now you are going to have the tools to be able to hear that voice and know that, “Oh, that is not me, that is just my inner critic. I do not have to give any attention, guidance or energy to that voice.” You will be able to speak to it and say listen, I don’t need that!!
Our inner critic’s main job is to protect us, but often it is doing more harm than good. Once you understand when she is talking and you are able to start dethroning her, you can work on what happens when you fall down or hit a bump in the road. Your thoughts shift to what is the opportunity not I failed again. Failing doesn’t mean that you are not good enough. It just means whatever you did didn’t work, so is it time to try a new path.
One of the steps in Joanna’s Four Step Mind Method helps you to meet your inner critic and become familiar with the voice of your inner critic, so you can then distinguish when she is getting back on her thrown. The inner critic is always going to happen, but what Joanna does is helps to give you the tools to its start recognizing when she POPS UP and how to tone her down!
Dethroning your inner critic is moment, by moment and can sometimes take 100 days. But there is nothing more important, in every aspect of life, than mastering the thoughts in your mind. When you know the difference between you and your inner critic, then YOUR LIFE becomes the most powerful life that you can be living.
If you listened to this podcast and read the blog and it’s giving you all the feels, then head over to Joanna’s website and socials and check her out! She is really truly amazing and has even helped me! Plus, she also has a podcast called “Dethroning Your Inner Critic.” Check her out and let me know what you think about this podcast! Are you ready to dethrone your inner critic right now!!’
Links:
Website: https://www.dethroningyourinnercritic.com/
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