quite grasp that what had been asked of me was real. I was conscious of the fact that, hello, my Inner Critic was running the show and that I’d created (hint, hint) a fearful experience around this request.
Finally, I had a good laugh at myself and responded to the email:
“Yes, I’d love to create a journal on overcoming the Inner Critic! The reason I didn’t respond right away is because I had to have a conversation with my Inner Critic. How meta.”
444
You are creating right this very minute.
With every thought you think, you create literal vibrations or sensations in your body that your brain then translates and labels with words you know as emotions. In turn, your feelings cause you to act, react, shut down, open up, do, not do…and thus you create.
You create experiences based on the input your mind receives and then translates. Emotional experiences, active experiences, results-based experiences, relational experiences.
Creativity isn’t only for art and music. Or technology and engineering. Or food. Or clothing. It’s also for relationships and experiences.
So the good news is that you’re already creative. You were born that way.
Here’s the catch: you were also born with a fear-based “critic.”
And the not-great (but good-to-know) news? It’s easier to be critical than it is to be creative.
This is because the fear-based critical part of the human brain—evolution-wise—is much older and more experienced than the creative part.
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Your life is already artful, waiting, just waiting, for you to make it art.
—Toni Morrison
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The fear-based critical part of your brain just does what it does and doesn’t even have to “think” about it. The creative part, on the other hand, can be slower and bit more awkward. And the critical part doesn’t like that. The critical part fears the unknown, and creativity is all about the unknown.
The best news of all? Your brain also includes an Inner Advocate. All that’s required is your willingness and curiosity.
Your human brain was designed to create a whole and complete experience for you, and this includes your Inner Critic, your Inner Advocate, and your Creative Self.
In this journal you will find the writing prompts and practices I use to know and understand my Inner Critic, to cultivate my Inner Advocate, to remember and inspire my Creative Self.
4
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Born from experiences internalized early in life, the Inner Critic an amalgamation of every critical thing we’ve ever heard (or thought we heard) from people of influence as they attempted to push us to conform to the norms of society.
—Denise Jacobs, author of Banish Your Inner Critic
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Critic (noun): one given to harsh or captious judgment
“I’m a pathetic loser.”
“No one wants what I have to offer.”
“I’m not scholarly enough.”
“I’m not compassionate enough.”
“I don’t have enough patience.”
“I’m too easily distracted.”
“I don’t have any original ideas.”
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