How I healed my inner critic to be in content creation flow

Most of our human suffering does not come from the world outside of us but from the voices that lives inside of us. One of which includes, the critic that says we are not enough, that we don’t do enough, that our work is not good enough… 

And as high-achieving women, the inner critic can suck away our precious creative life force because it judges you and your creative expressions. For instance, an exciting content idea may be budding through you but then before it even comes into full fruition, the inner critic may judge you things like:

“but what if no one likes that post”,
“but someone else already talks about it”,
“but I am not as good as *insert a successful person you see on the internet”

Constricting you with a lot of “buts” and “shoulds.” Thereby, it limits your ability to be a prolific content creator (and entrepreneur), while stifling the joy of your creative process, let alone having other people witness your creative expressions. 

Some may say that the inner critic is needed because it helps you improve, such as how critical feedback from a mentor may illuminate our own blindspots.  

Yet, despite the loving intentions of the inner critic, the repercussions of the inner critic often lead us toward stagnation rather than growth. This is because in business, the inner critic cockblocks you from experiencing flow-state during the content creation process, which means whenever you put out content, it is hard to either stay consistent or absolutely love the content you put out without a doubt.

Not only that, the inner critic prevents you from fully connecting you to your heart (and your truth) during the content creation process which prevents you from connecting to the heart of your audience+clients too.

In our bodies, the inner critic causes a tight constriction as you overload your head with questions about how other people might think/ judge, and whether people would buy from you. And because we’re not accepting who we are and our unique voice/way of creation, this leads to holding ourselves back in our businesses.

Thus, the inner critic leads to confusion instead of clarity, hopelessness instead of hopefulness, and mulling over “mistakes” instead of momentum.  

In other words, the inner critic is like a weed that sucks away the nutrients of our creative juices when we harbor it inside of us.

And unless we learn to release her, we cannot listen to the voice of our souls desiring to move us, in ways that free us. 

And so I wanted to share with you, some ways of how I have been able to let go of the inner critic along my journey, and how you can do the same 

See yourself as the love that is beyond your inner critic

One of the reasons why it’s hard to let go of the inner critic is because we think we are the ones judging ourselves. We believe that everything that the voice says is true and that it is coming from us. 

When the truth is, you are not your inner critic. The inner critic is a voice that is external to you (i.e. your real True Self). The truth is, you are the impartial, infinite loving awareness who is watching the inner critic and perhaps, many other voices that live inside of you. Each voice has a different story and a different belief about you. 

And the inner critic has a story/belief about imperfection. She notices anything that is imperfect in this world and is deeply afraid of you being the same– i.e. imperfect. As a result, the inner critic tries everything to protect you from being imperfect (aka failing).

For example, early on in my entrepreneurial journey, my inner critic would judge me with comments like:

“Nobody wants to hear from you”
“Nobody cares about what you have to say”
“Your offers aren’t selling out enough”
“Nobody sees the actual value you provide etc”

The inner critic does this because she wants to protect you from failing. For example, failing as in having crickets in your offers/business or being canceled on the internet. And because she is afraid of you “failing”, she is also preventing you from trying which also means succeeding (i.e. thriving in your wholeness, your joy, your creativity within your business).

And paradoxically, the only way to release the inner critic is to love the inner critic.

That means expanding yourself (your presence) into even greater love so that any criticism from the inner critic aims melts into safety, security, and serenity.

That means instead of analyzing the inner critic through the mind, you move into your body to embody love via presence, awareness, and compassion.

When you do this, the poison from the inner critic neutralizes. This means you can then take the truths within what the inner critic says and then leave the rest (like the self-loathing/self-judging aspect). Then you move forward with greater truth that only you (the infinite love) sees but the inner critic may not see. Overtime, the judgements from the inner critic dissipates.

An embodiment practice you can deepen into:

Pretend your inner critic is a pillow who is berating you. Engage in a conversation with her. Ask for her concerns, fears, and desires with gentleness and compassion like she is a little child, in the size of a pillow. Then take turns speaking in the voice of your inner critic (perhaps in a churpy “pillow” voice), moving back and forth between you and your inner critic.

Once she has fully expressed her concerns, fears, and desires console her with how you and her will move through her fears together, and that she does not need to worry. Give her practical tips, advice, and perhaps even a hug if she needs. This is where you act as if you’re a parent, reparenting her. Listen to your heart to offer whatever the little child (the inner critic) needs.

Express the art of your inner critic

Another reason why the inner critic prevails is because we lock her up inside of us. We silently torment ourselves through the inner critic’s judgements while fearing that the world may do the same to us. 

The truth of the matter is that these shadows of self-judgements haunt us only because we fear them. In fact, these fears exist not because you have had glaring faults/mistakes/flaws per se, but because it is human nature to experience them. Even celebrities and public figures we look up to experience them– listen to Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero if you know what I mean:D

And the way out of the chains of the inner critic is to unchain the inner critic. Let her write, paint, craft, sing, dance, in whatever form of art that may be, for art is the language of the heart– that spellbinds the inner critic to transform into love, softness, and beauty.

Below is a poem I wrote myself, during a time not long ago, when my inner critic was making me feel inferior in comparison to “higher-level” coaches on social media:  

My online landscape 
Is either a barren land where no one else exists 
Or a crowded pack where more popular people persists 
Who are attracting attention, like fruits attracting flies 
Yet I am a mere budding, that gets ignored by eyes 
Actually turns out I do not want to be like those influencers
Nor I want to be one of those wannabe pretenders
All I simply want is to share my gifts in a wildflower field 
With a handful of receivers who desire to be healed 
So I will keep dancing
Even if nobody is watching
I will keep playing
Even if nobody is joining
And if the fun I am having gets rubbed 
Sure do, at least one would be curious of what’s all that joyful buzz

A visualization of “my online landscape” that came up as I wrote the poem

For me, through expressing the pain of my inner critic in the poem above, it brought me a new awareness of how I intend to serve+attract clients in my business in a more peaceful, harmonious way that feels good to me. I do not go into the poem expecting an outcome, I simply express as it is, as I am, and through surrendering to the art is how new ideas and revelations come about. 

It is natural that by expressing your emotions (and thus inner critic) in the form of art, the Spirit of art gifts you back, with aha moments, mindset shifts, and even miracles. Through art, you connect to your own heart, such that it paves the way for the right clients/customers to connect with you too. And even more than that, what a pure joy it is to simply express!

Transform your inner critic into inner consultant

Our inner critics are most hurtful to us when she is roaming rampantly around-– judging our every move from every direction, trying to ‘correct’ every action. 

This is the reason why being in flow-state (where you are absorbed deeply in the work you do, the art/content you create) is not possible when the inner critic is active. To transcend that barrier toward flow requires giving our inner critic a new role– to be an inner consultant. 

That means only consulting the inner critic only during certain time-alloted periods but not the entire day. For example, the inner consultant can be helpful when you are reviewing your work, polishing your art before publication etc. However, having the inner consultant judge every creative output we make, without the art crystallizing into a specific end form yet would exterminate the very root of your creative expression itself.

Additionally, when we transform the inner critic to inner consultant, it also means that the inner consultant would treat us with respect+kindness. Remember that you are “hiring” your inner consultant so politeness is part of the employment terms and conditions!;) 

With a lot of marketing strategies catered around what we “should” do and “should” express in content, it is common to have the inner critic hindering the gateways of actually connecting to the heart and soul of your content (and therefore your ideal client/customer).

However, when refined through compassion, expressive artistry, and imaginative transformation, the inner critic can also be a fine companion and a brilliant gemstone that support you and your growth. For the inner critic, just like any anti-heroines inside of us, actual deep rooted desire is also just like you: to thrive in creativity and joy inside your business.