How to Hush Your Inner Critic
We all have an inner critic. It’s that little voice in your head that shows up all loud-mouthed and full of negative criticism. You know, the one that tells you that you’re not good enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough, not smart enough. It’s that nagging, invasive voice that invalidates you and your experiences. It disrupts your confidence and steals your joy, and it’s loud and hard to ignore.
At times, your own true voice can get muffled in contrast to the unhelpful tones of the inner critic. But, it’s not all doom and gloom. The inner critic is a part of you, and has purpose. There’s a way to turn down the volume of the negative noise, and tune into your inner beauty and truth.
As an art therapist, I love helping my clients recognize their resiliency and strength. To improve your self-worth and repurpose the voice of your inner critic, art therapy helps you tap into the power of your own innate creativity.
When confronting your inner critic in the art therapy room at Hearts for Hope Therapy in Greenville, SC, we’ll first identify how and when your inner critic shows up and how it impacts you. Then, using insight-oriented art therapy processes, we will deepen your self-awareness and help you siphon out the helpful versus unhelpful messages that your inner critic is feeding you. Finally, we’ll process what comes up for you during the art-marking process, and practice how to redirect and redefine the negative thoughts your inner critic tells you.
Listening to Your Inner Critic
It’s so easy to fall prey to the critical inner voice. The thing is, we wouldn’t want the people we love to talk to us the way we talk to ourselves. The voice of the inner critic loves to use shame-based words, like “should,” “always” and “never.” [1] Our critical inner voice speaks with persistence and in absolutes, and we listen. In doing so, we give the inner critic all the power.
We listen because the inner critic speaks with conviction, and leaves little room for rebuttal. Like a lawyer in a courtroom, the inner critic can quickly shout out examples of past mistakes and shortcomings, providing evidence that strengthens it’s argument of “you are not good enough.” Deep down, you know the inner critic is being unreasonably harsh, but your microphone is not as big as the inner critic’s megaphone.
So, how do we flip the script? There are many ways to quiet our inner critics. We can develop a meditation practice, write down thoughts that challenge the negative thoughts, recite positive affirmations, or go to therapy. Or, we can uncover our inner truth through art therapy, a uniquely powerful mindfulness tool that will restructure our relationship with the inner critic.
Finding Ways to Challenge Your Inner Critic
At Hearts for Hope Therapy, I combine art therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you quiet your inner critic. CBT is an evidence-based, structured form of traditional therapy that brings awareness and attention to areas of your mental health that you need to address. [2]
I also use rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), a therapeutic modality started by Albert Ellis. “In essence, Albert Ellis created it as a philosophy of living – its foundation is the belief that it is not the events in our lives that cause our emotions, rather it is our beliefs that cause us to experience emotions such as anger, depression, and anxiety. It is a mode to consider and change our irrational beliefs and has shown to have a favorable effect on reducing emotional pain.” [3]
I take an intentional, eclectic approach to using CBT, REBT, and art therapy as a way to guide my clients on the journey of dealing with their inner critic. Albert Ellis is right: We need to unravel our irrational beliefs to overcome that inner critic.
I take a strengths-based approach to therapy so my clients can recognize and connect with their own resiliency. It is empowering to focus on your strengths rather than weaknesses or symptoms. It’s not a “let’s fix what’s wrong with you” approach, because you are not broken! Instead, we approach the inner critic without judgment. A strengths-based approach calls out what the negative inner voice is saying, challenges it, and restructures it by calling on your strengths and your truth, thus supporting healthy personal growth.
Art Therapy and Your Inner Critic
As an art therapist, I use different art directives to facilitate exploration and self-expression. When it comes to dealing with your inner critic, one of the art interventions I use in an art therapy session is something known as process painting.
Process painting is used in art therapy as a mindfulness tool. It’s a relatively unstructured painting activity with the intention of engaging in the creative act itself and is not focused on the aesthetic product. It emphasizes the process over technique. As with all art therapy practices, there is no formal art experience or skill required to benefit from process painting. [4]
Process painting is all about listening to your intuition. There is a vulnerability in diving into something unknown, going through a process that you don’t know where it will take you. Learning when the painting is complete, or when it is providing you with an “aha!” moment, is all part of the magic of the process. The painting will have voice, and that voice will echo your inner truth, which helps to hush the inner critic.
The process of painting without a clear directive or end result in mind can be vulnerable, but also very freeing. You can fully express yourself through your painting. You also make discoveries along the way, which we process together during your art therapy sessions.
Process painting will help you recognize when the inner critic shows up, so we can witness and work with it in real-time. Yes, the inner critic is bound to show up during the art-making process! When the inner critic makes its appearance, I support my clients with additional art therapy techniques combined with CBT, allowing for deeper insight to be achieved. CBT provides a more structured way to recognize the inner critic, analyze it, and learn healthy ways to cope with it.
Process painting also uncovers different emotions and memories that may have otherwise been hidden or suppressed in the subconscious. Many profound insights come up for my clients as they engage in process painting. It allows for opportunities to do the healing work at that very moment while they are painting. As a trained art therapist, I am there to hold space for pain, hope, and transformational growth, and help my clients recognize and connect with their inner truth.
In art therapy, the artwork becomes a safe container for difficult or uncomfortable emotions to take shape. It helps you express and transform complex thoughts through the art-making process. Sometimes it’s difficult to put these feelings and thoughts into words. Maybe you aren’t aware of what is coming up for you, which is when art therapy can be especially helpful. The art process offers a unique way for you to bear witness to your own thought processes as they show up visually, so you can process them verbally with your art therapist.
Additionally, finding symbols through art is a powerful way to realize and honor your inner strengths and worthiness. This counteracts the negative things the inner critic tells you about yourself. Together we look at what you’ve created and talk about what metaphors are the most meaningful for you.
Hushing Your Inner Critic At Hearts for Hope Therapy
Now that we’ve identified ways to soften that critical inner voice, it’s time to do the work. At Hearts for Hope Therapy in Greenville, SC, I’ll guide and support you through the process of changing your relationship with your inner critic. You can learn more about art therapy and how I use it in my practice here.
Together we’ll work through these thoughts and the emotions they bring up through process painting and other art therapy directives. We’ll talk about what came up for you and what you think might be going on. My aim is for you to more easily recognize how, when, and why your inner critic makes an appearance, and redefine the language you use to speak to yourself.
You’ll begin to see yourself for the wonderful and worthy person you are and stop listening to the negative things that your inner critic tells you. You’ll develop a new self-love language through the power of art, that will translate into your everyday life.
If you’d like to learn more about how art therapy can help you kick those deceitful inner thoughts to the curb, reach out to me for a free consultation at Hearts for Hope Therapy in Greenville, SC. Whether you’re ready to take a deep-dive into personal growth through private art therapy sessions, or are interested in my online group workshops, I look forward to offering you practical tools that will facilitate lasting change as you reform your relationship with your inner critic.
References
[1]https://www.mindful.org/how-to-recognize-your-inner-critic/
[2]https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cognitive-behavioral-therapy/about/pac-20384610
