STEPS TO OVERCOMING YOUR CRITICAL INNER VOICEINTRODUCTIONi. Attention grabberThis voice is not very kind, and sometimes it is downright mean. Its the voice that says that we cant do something or that were not good enough, smart enough or pretty enough. It is the critic telling us that well never succeed. Sometimes we begin to believe what it has to say and we let it stop us from reaching our goals or pursuing our dreams. We even use it as an excuse to not even try. I always have this voice inside my head saying that I am not good enough. My negative thoughts are me, always thinking that I am not good enough or strong enough, or that I might say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. I guess I am my own worst enemy sometimes. I am a good person and fail to see that in myself. I always put others before me, and then there is no time or place for me.

ii. Reveal topicToday I would like to talk about steps to overcoming our critical inner voice. The critical inner voice can be thought of as the language of the defensive process. It is defined as a well-integrated pattern of negative thoughts toward one's self and others that is at the root of an individual's maladaptive behavior. It represents an overlay on the personality that is not natural or harmonious but learned or imposed from without.

iii. Relevance statementsThe critical inner voice is not an actual voice that speaks to us, rather it is experienced as those self-limiting thoughts and attitudes that exists in all of us and keep us from achieving our goals. Expert says, how does the critical inner voice affect us? The critical inner voice is an internal enemy that can affect every aspect of our lives, including our self-esteem and confidence, our personal and intimate relationships, and our performance and accomplishments at school and work. These negative affect us by undermining our positive feelings about ourselves and others and fostering self-criticism, inwardness, distrust, self-denial, addictions and a retreat from goal-directed activities. So, how do you get that negative internal dialogue to stop so that you can do the things you want, be the person you desire and finally free yourself from the chains of self-disbelief? Here are some steps you can take to help in the process:

iv. Preview of main pointsHere are some step to overcoming our critical inner voice: Identifying what your critical inner voice is telling you Responding to your critical inner voice Understanding how your voices influence your behavior Replace your negative dialogue with positive dialogue

BODYi. Identifying what your critical inner voice is telling youFirst of all let me explain to you my first point or first step to overcome our critical inner voice: In order to challenge their negative attacks, people must first become aware of what their critical inner voice is telling them. They can do this by identifying an area of their lives where they are especially critical of themselves and then pay attention to what the criticisms are. As a person discovers what the self-attacks are, it is valuable to articulate them in the second person, as "you" statements. For example, instead of saying "I feel so lazy and useless," a person would say "You are so lazy. You're useless." When people utilize this format in voice therapy, they are encouraged to express their critical thoughts as they hear or experience them, and this often leads to them accessing the hostility that underlies this self-attacking system. These negative thoughts tell us when to worry and what to worry about, but never do they offer us a real solution to our problems.

ii. Responding to your critical inner voiceNow, lets move to the next point, Answers back to the voice attacks. People who have thoughts like, "You're so stupid. No one wants to hear what you are thinking. Just sit in the background and keep your mouth shut!" may respond with statements like, "I am not stupid! What I have to say is valuable and worthwhile. Make rational statements about how they really are, how other people really are, and what is true about his or her social world. You need to have that same attitude when it comes to your inner voice. When it tells you that youre bad or youre stupid, then challenge it. Dont just accept what it is saying as truth.

iii. Understanding how your voices influence your behaviorEqually important, to overcome our critical inner voice we must, Understand how these patterns of self-defeating thoughts has influenced your past and impacts your present-day behaviors. Having this understanding of how the critical inner voice has affected your actions is helpful when people want to change specific self-limiting behaviors. Changing self-limitting behaviors, once people have identified the areas in which they limit themselves, Begin to change themselves. by taking two actions: to not engage in the self-destructive behavior that is being encouraged by the critical inner voice and to increase the positive behaviors that go against the recommendations of the voice.

iv. Replace your negative dialogue with positive dialogueFinally, now that your mind is not using precious time listening to the negative internal dialogue youve been hearing for way too long, its time to replace it. Its time to get some positive internal dialogue coming your way. When you hear yourself say that you cant do something, replace it with the fact that you can. When you hear that youre not good enough, smart enough or pretty enough replace it with the statement that you are good enough, smart enough and pretty enough. Whatever your negative inner voice says to you, just replace it with the exact opposite wording.Essentially, youre letting yourself know that youre done just sitting idly by while saying mean, horrible and nasty things to yourself. Youre not going to let someone else do it to you, so you certainly arent going to do it to yourself.

CONCLUSIONi. Summary of main pointsIn conclusion, Identifying and countering critical inner voices can be harder than it seems. With change comes anxiety, and getting rid of an inner critic is no exception. Often, when people begin to challenge their negative attacks and act against their directives, the attacks grow stronger and more intense. There are people who have gotten used to their critical thoughts and, although unpleasant, they are comfortable "living with" them. Some people mistakenly believe that their critical inner voices are what keep them in line, so they fear that if they do not heed them, they will act badly. However, the more people act against their critical inner voice, the weaker its influence on their lives becomes. If they stick it out and follow the steps of voice therapy, people become more themselves and are able to achieve goals and live free from imagined limitations.

ii. Memorable concluding statementThink positive. Life is good. Too many people miss the silver lining because theyre expecting pure gold. Positive thinking isnt about expecting the best to always happen, but accepting that whatever happens is the best for the moment. So keep smiling and keep staying true to your heart. Someday, the negative voice inside you will have nothing left to say.

REFERENCEShttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/compassion-matters/201005/steps-overcoming-your-critical-inner-voicehttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/compassion-matters/201010/silence-the-inner-voice-thats-stressing-you-outhttp://www.psychalive.org/critical-inner-voice/http://www.marcandangel.com/2013/07/25/4-ways-to-quiet-the-negative-voice-inside-you/http://youqueen.com/life/personal-development/how-to-stop-negative-internal-dialogue/