Using Mindfulness to Tame the Inner Critic

By Candice Fraser - The Kindness Couch

These were the words that came to mind when I realised I needed to stop living on autopilot and start living life fully. It was confronting and scary. It’s also a story I hear often from others. We can sense it in our body when life feels right, or not quite right. But where do you begin? The challenge is, when we look at life as a whole, it’s overwhelming, it’s a lot, too much in fact so we keep on keeping on as is. Here’s the secret - we are all one whole person, but we are all made up of many parts. Each part has needs. Your hurt inner child has a need to be held with self-

compassion. Your part that is hopeful needs meaningful goals to chase, and so on. When our needs aren’t being met, they begin to pile up, overwhelm creeps in and we can begin to lose ourselves. Meditating every day is an opportunity to gently look within, to see all the parts of yourself and to explore what they need, giving you an opportunity to then meet those needs and heal that part of yourself. Start by simply closing your eyes, connecting with your body, and asking yourself how you are feeling today.