A shared practice
The Voice of a Good Friend
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Created bySean Fargo
Part 5 of Sean's inner-critic series — recorded in his own voice.
In Sean Fargo’s own voice5 min
Read along — the full script
Welcome back. We're now on day five of dealing with the inner critic. I'm Sean Fargo. What if your inner critic's voice was on a microphone where anybody could hear your inner critic criticize you? What if a good friend of yours heard that?
What if they heard that you felt feelings of self-doubt, feelings of incompetency or unworthiness? What would your friend say to you? I mean, if they're a really good friend, what would they say? How would they treat you?
If they're a good friend, they would probably comfort you. They would probably dispel the myth of the critic, the false statements that your critic is saying around your competency or worthiness. Your friend would tell you that, "Yeah, maybe you made a mistake, but it's not the end of the world.
We all make mistakes. It's fine." Or, "I love you no matter what," or, "You're a beautiful person." What would your friend say? Now, on the other hand, what if you heard your friend's inner critic? If you're a really good friend to someone and you heard them harshly criticize themself or express feelings of self-doubt or unworthiness, how would that make you feel?
Knowing that the inner critic is not right or is exaggerating the truth, what would you say to your friend? And how would you comfort them? It can be really helpful to reflect on how you treat yourself and whether that's any different with how a really good friend would treat you.
And how do others treat themself? And how might that differ from how you treat them? The sense of genuine care. Encouraging them to not give credence to their critic, to not believe that they're incompetent or unworthy or unlikable, and to show them all the ways that they are competent, all the ways that they are worthy of care, and all the ways that they're likable.
Thank you for joining me on this exercise. I hope it's helpful for you. I look forward to spending more time with you again tomorrow on day six of dealing with the inner critic.
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