Every bit of you deserves love.
Every part of you contains wisdom, beauty, stardust and value.
You are soooo incredibly worthy.
I know that it's easier to see that in others. We sensitive souls often have so much more compassion and empathy for others than we do for ourselves.
To genuinely (and sustainably) act with compassion in the world ... we must learn true and deep compassion for ourselves! And part of that compassion must be learning to tame our inner-critic!
The truth is … every single human on this planet has felt criticized. We've all felt small, strange and painfully unworthy.
We've all been told in obvious, big, loud ways (as well as small, quiet, insidious ways) that we're not enough… That we're too much… That we don't belong… That we aren't worthy of love and attention.
But, self-compassion and self-love are our birthright!
This meditation is a powerful and effective exercise to reclaim your worthiness and sense of self!
All of us have an inner-critic. This inner voice thinks that it's protecting us by shaming, devaluing and judging us.
This inner voice believes that it's keeping us safe … that if we could just be perfect enough, we would be free from pain. It believes that if we internalize the voices of criticism from the world around us that we can prevent future judgments and rejections.
But, by shaming and criticizing us, this inner-critic only creates confusion and pain within us. And, if it gets out of control, it squashes our creativity and joy … and makes us feel small and worthless.
The voice of our inner-critic develops in early childhood.
When we're children, we haven't fully developed our sense of self, we just know that we need love and belonging to survive. So, we're hyper-sensitive to how others react to us. We're deeply affected by their words, actions, and emotions – big and small – subtle and obvious.
The truth is that we all deserve love and belonging. We are all enough.
But, the other thing that is true is that we were raised by humans. Humans who had forgotten that they were enough … that they were worthy … that they deserved love and belonging.
And so our needs, feelings, and desires were being tended to by people who mostly didn't know how to tend to their own needs, feelings, and desires.
When we were made to feel small and unworthy, it wasn't because we deserved criticism and rejection … it was simply because most people around us were too overwhelmed with their own pain and confusion to see, honor and respect our feelings with consideration they deserve.
Fighting with your inner-critic is a battle that you'll never win.
And, I'm aware as a spiritual healer and teacher that the voice of the inner-critic is actually pointing directly at places in our own psyche that need healing and love.
This meditation gives you new tools to use when you're feeling overwhelmed and squashed by your inner-critic!
How did that meditation feel to you?
What "a-ha's" did you have about you inner-child and your inner-critic?