How many times have you given up on something because a voice in your head has convinced you to drop it? And how often do you let yourself be deceived by this inner critic?
By inner critic we mean the complex chatter that is constantly going on inside our heads; that all-too familiar nagging voice that tells us over and over that we have made a mistake or we are not good enough, that we look bad in photographs, or that people will judge us because we are too fat, too skinny, too old, and so on.
To different degrees, we are all critical of ourselves and others, but the problem is that many people don’t even recognise this in themselves.
When we are young, the conditioning instilled in us at that early age, meaning our repeatedly reinforced behavioural processes, has a big impact on who we then grow up to become. This conditioning is a type of learned behaviour, and continues to develop as we receive different stimuli from our families, friendships, and society as a whole.
Judgement in itself is not necessarily a bad thing; it only becomes a problem when it takes up too much space in our minds.
The judgement presented in the book is not about evaluating a given situation and considering the facts to decide how we feel about it. The author aims to teach us about the judgement, or criticism that somehow creeps into our mind, undermining our self-esteem, and taking away our inner peace. He calls this the inner critic, and helps us to understand that, to lead a happy life, it is important we learn to keep this other voice in check.
