Giving the Inner Critic What For!

Okay, do you have the symbol of your Inner Critic?

If not, find one.

Take it in hand.

Hold it before you.

Look it in the eye, if it has an eye, or dead on center.

Talk to it, out loud. Be as firm as you need to be. Say something such as, “Inner Critic, I’m going in search of the Rabbit Hole now and if I’m lucky and brave, I’ll fall right in. But for sure that won’t happen if you’re around. So get your butt in gear and get out of my writing space!”

Pause, listen, get a sense as to whether your Inner Critic believes you. If not, repeat your statement, make yourself sound more commanding. Say it until both you and your Inner Critic know that you are in charge. Now, literally, carry your Inner Critic away from your writing space. Turn its back to a wall, bury it under a mound of towels or dirty clothes. Do whatever you need to do, short of annihilating it, to keep it away while you are creating. At the same time, advise the Inner Critic that when you finish creating, you will come and get her. Tell her this will be the routine whenever you are writing, and if she has hopes of ever being partners in your creative endeavors, she’d better learn to stop nosing in and berating you.

When you are certain the Inner Critic is safely under your control, return to your writing space.

Do this exercise as many times as you need until you feel the imagination overpowering the Inner Critic. You may need to do it every time you go to work in this book or on your writing or in other areas that demand creativity. I do this exercise when I am feeling anxious or upset and need to get control of my emotions. After a while, you won’t need the symbol of your Inner Critic; you’ll be able to carry on a conversation in your mind. When you no longer need the physical image of your Inner Critic, you can enshrine it on top of the refrigerator or on the back of the toilet bowl!