Buddha said,

What we think, we become.

How kind are you to yourself? Do you tend to beat yourself up? If you’ve ever caught yourself saying something inside your head that you would never dream of saying out loud, you’re not alone. We’re often our own worst critic, saying negative things to and about ourselves that we would never dream of saying to someone we cared about. It’s time to improve our inner dialogue.

So why are we so self-critical?

For some of us it’s an issue of perfectionism. We set the bar unrealistically high and then feel disappointment and even guilt when we don’t reach it. For others it’s been conditioned over time; with messages in our early life or from society that we should be this or that way.

How’s your self-talk?

What we think about ourselves and the people and world around us can also be referred to as self-talk. Self-talk is that voice inside your head that chatters away making judgements on what’s going on around you and within you. Sometimes it’s positive, like when you’ve just passed a test or received a genuine compliment. But often it can be negative, berating and belittling.

How does your inner critic hold you back?

How does it limit what you do? Henry Ford said,

Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.

The power that our thoughts have over our actions is huge. And the thing is, you’re in control. If you want to be.

Imagine if you increased your self-belief tenfold?

If you became your biggest fan. And not in an ego-centric, self-absorbed way; but in a way that you would encourage your child to go after their dreams, to work hard and smart and believe that they can achieve what they set their heart and mind to.

You have a choice!

It takes 90 seconds for an emotional response to be triggered, surge through the body and leave. After 90 seconds if it’s still there it’s because some part of you has chosen for it to stay. To help move negative thoughts out of the mind, use one of the following suggestions to quickly divert attention away from a negative thought as it occurs:

• Recall something fascinating and ponder on it
• Think of something that brings you joy
• Think of something you’d really love to do

Over time you will become more adept at shifting your thought patterns from the negative to the positive.

So, pay attention to the voice inside your head.

Turn down the dial on the limiting, negative talk and replace this with empowering, uplifting messages; messages that get you closer to greatness and to your full potential. Silence your inner critic for a while and become your own inner cheerleader instead.

Remember, what you think, you become. So think positive.