By now you’re probably well aware of your inner critic and have memories of times when you wish you had chased a dream or desire instead of listening to the voices in your head telling you why you’d supposedly fail or weren’t good enough.
Despite those regretful memories you still repeat the same pattern, but with new dreams. Even though you know better, your inner critic says, “Maybe you could have been successful back then in that situation, but today’s situation is entirely different and you just don’t have what it takes. I mean, how embarrassing would it be if you failed and made a fool of yourself? Maybe we can talk about it again next year.”
Our thoughts can often be our worst enemies. But they don’t have to be. Despite what some neuroscientists would have you believe, we don’t just think what the chemicals in our brains tell us to think. We aren’t just the thinkers, we are also the observers of our thoughts.
That means, while we certainly have many thoughts programmed into us through experience, parenting, society, well-meaning advice, etc. we have the power to change those programs to ones we prefer. Our inner critic is simply a program, and we can re-program it.
Your Subconscious Mind’s Hold
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While re-programming our inner critic is completely doable, that doesn’t mean it is easy. Our inner critic has been pumping us full of self-doubt for almost as many years as we’ve been on this earth. We could take the approach of pumping our brains full of new, positive thoughts until they take hold. But this approach, while effective if you go at it in the long term, could be made easier.
When you start pumping your system with positive thoughts to counteract the negative thoughts, you are trying to butt heads with a deeply held belief. Your ego wants to protect you and so it will not back down easily. If you push too hard against your negative thoughts, they can root themselves deeper.
For every negative criticism we get from those around us, we need to hear at least 3 positive comments to overcome the damage. In some cases, you may need up to 10 positive comments to make up for a negative one. Think about this in the context of our inner criticism, which chips away at us even when we are alone.
An easier way of introducing affirmations so you are not going head-to-head with the years of negative self-talk is to first release these limiting beliefs. When you have cleared away some of those limiting beliefs, you make room for the positive ones. When the old negative beliefs have been released, they aren’t there to lock horns with the new ones you introduce.
Releasing Old Beliefs to Make Room for New Ones
If you would like to release limiting beliefs like self-doubt and negative self-talk, I suggest you join my free, 7-day release limiting beliefs course. This course is designed to clear out old patterns of self-doubt so you can walk out feeling more confident than before. Your psyche is better primed for accepting new positive thought patterns when you feel good about yourself.
Healings aren’t particularly interesting but I have received great feedback from those who have completed the course saying they feel happier, more at ease, and have an overall boost to their mood. If you’d like a taste of that, make sure to join.
You can get the benefits of the advice in this article without the course, but if you’ve received that healing, the benefits will be greater since any positive thoughts you instill after the healing will have room to latch on, leaving less space for any negative thoughts to settle in again.
Additionally, make sure to check out this article by INLP Center. They have a wonderful article on understanding the subconscious mind that I think you’ll find useful. It also comes with a free workbook to help you start reprogramming your mind now so you can get the results out of life you want!
Creating Affirmations That Actually Work
Once you have completed the free self-doubt healing course, and are ready to start planting positive thoughts, read this article to learn how to create affirmation and/or visualizations that actually work. When you have 1-3 intentions you would like to set for your life, say each one for 5 minutes straight twice a day. Alternatively, you can say each one 25 times, twice a day.
Practicing Your Affirmations to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind
If possible, do this while looking at yourself in front of the mirror. As you look at yourself and repeat your affirmation for 5 minutes or 25 times, say it as if it is already true. This doesn’t mean simply using the words, “I am” successful or “I have” a job, for example. It also means saying the statement with conviction. Saying it to yourself with the energy and emotion as if it were true. Because it already is true.
Other Methods to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind
If you would prefer to use another method, you could try visualization or journaling. In both of these methods, create a short story of what it would be like if you were successful or if you had that job. What would you spend your money on? How would you dress, how would you talk? Where would you go on vacation or what restaurants would you frequent? How would you see yourself? What would your typical day look like?
From that short story, your visualization will develop. You’ve heard this advice before, but as you visualize, or as you write your story in your journal, feel the emotions as if you were living this reality right now.
Write your story or do your visualization twice a day. In each session, visualize or write for as long as it takes to generate those emotions. It could take 30 seconds, it could take 5 minutes. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. They key is to hit that emotional state. Once you feel the emotions, just enjoy the feeling of it for as long as you please. This should feel wonderful, so if this feels like a chore, try another technique.
Practice Your Affirmations Consistently
No matter what technique you use, affirmations, visualizations, journaling, or something entirely different, be consistent in your practice. Each time you repeat, you are programming your mind a little deeper. If you completed my self-belief course, your ego won’t push against you as much so the re-programming should be easier.
Act As If
As you go about your day, whenever you remember, act as if you are living your new belief. Walk as if you have that job, talk the way your successful self would talk. Brush your hair as if you had that job, brush your teeth the way successful you would.
Take Advantage of the Mundane
This may seem silly and like you’re focusing on the mundane. Brushing your hair, your teeth, making your lunch? What do these have to do with getting that job or realizing your success? When you live a belief, it permeates all levels of your life. When you have negative thought patterns, your inner critic doesn’t leave them out of the little things like brushing your teeth. It is always there. So let your positive thoughts permeate your life too.
Furthermore, it is in the mundane when we are least attached to our desired outcome. And it is in the mundane when we can find more belief. When you imagine yourself as having that job or being successful, at times it can feel like it’s a stretch. It can feel like the goal is too large, too far or too unlikely. This is of course, your inner critic talking.
But brushing your teeth the way a successful you would, making your lunch the way the you who has that job would, that’s not so hard to imagine or practice. It is in these very real moments of our lives when we can truly shape our futures.
What Life Will You Create For Yourself?
Affirmations, visualizations, journaling, whatever your practice, help you control your inner critic who is fueled by your subconscious thoughts that have been programmed into you since your first few days on earth. Your practice helps you reprogram those subconscious thoughts through repetition and full body participation (thoughts, emotions, visuals, acting as if) to ones that serve you instead of hinder you.
What life are you going to create for yourself?