- Mick Scott
- Apr 28
- 2 min read
Last week, I led a transformational workshop with a group of educators. One teacher referenced the inner critic, and a lot of nodding in agreement showed up around the room.
You probably have one of those inner critics too, don’t you?
It’s judgmental and it's pessimistic. It’s got a tone to its voice within our minds - some people say it’s the voice of an overbearing parent, others say it’s the voice of a demon. What’s the tone of your inner critic’s voice?
The inner critic, for those of us with one, is a part of us. It’s been there much of our lives, and it will continue to be there.
While we think of the inner critic as a force opposed to us living a great life, the inner critic isn’t an enemy - it’s actually a friend.
It wants the best for you. It wants to protect you. It wants you to avoid looking bad, avoid screwing up, avoid losing in this game of life. That’s why it does what it does.
The inner critic isn’t a problem. Our relationship to the inner critic is the problem.
Learning to "let the inner critic be" is the secret to getting our inner critic to let us be.
How do you feel about your inner critic? That’s where meaningful work can happen.
An additional practice that can give us some space from the effects of the critic is to ask the inner mentor for advice.
Like the inner critic, the inner mentor is there inside us too, it’s just less vocal than the inner critic. It’s there, like a teacher, waiting for you (the student) to come to it with a question and a request for help.
I was at the gym earlier today, finding myself in a pessimistic mental and emotional fog that my critic was yapping away about. I thanked it for caring about me, then asked my inner mentor what it had to say.
Its words were simple and effective, and the critic got quiet - it too was interested in what the inner mentor had to say.
Before I get on a call with a client or lead a group program, I read through a creation I have that's titled “My Coaching.” Here are a few lines from it:
The answers are over there with them.
I listen cleanly, and all I hear is gold.
The truth is right in front of us.
Your inner mentor is always right there with you. It’s a wiser, more optimistic part of yourself than the critic, and it’s also there to help; it just does it a little more kindly.
If you’d like to learn to tap into your inner mentor to help you thrive, reach out and let’s talk.
Much Love. ❤️
P.S. The more I explore my inner mentor, the more and more it seems to actually be a voice from beyond me altogether. It's as if learning to tune into what our inner mentor is saying is actually tuning into a Divine radio station where Grace gets verbalized in a language we can hear.