inner critic as aggressive acts. You may make a
matching hand gesture.Indignation:How dare you speak to me that way!
It’s all right to let yourself feel indignation and
outrage at the inner critic’s lack of respect for your
dignity or anyone else’s.Truth:That hurts me!or It scares me when you talk
that way! Stop it!Simply speaking your own truth in
the moment can break your engagement with your
inner critic. The point here is that your awareness
becomes focused on your feelings in response to the
attack rather than on its content.Humor:I only let bullies say that to me.This
approach is to refuse to accept the seriousness of
the judgments. The power of humor lies in its ability
to break through the mental nature of your inner
critic. It cannot maintain its established destructive
pattern when aliveness is activated through the
experience of spontaneous laughter.Agreement:You’re right and I want to learn from
my mistake.You defuse the attack by acknowledging
the content without accepting the negative valuation.
Acceptance of your inner critic’s observations
without taking on any blame may help you “mine
the gold” in its message and transform your
shortcomings.Exaggeration:Yes, I’m the worst (use an adjective
appropriate to the attack) person in the whole
country.Exaggeration is a more energetic, but
similar form of agreement and humor, claiming the
negative quality as something you are strange164 E-Motion Picture Magic