Thread by @stevecusswords

I continue to explore tools and ramifications to decrease the grip of our Inner Critic.

It recently occurred to me that the message of the inner critic often fall into broad categories of:

- you must do it perfectly
- you must know the answer
- you must always love well.

1/

Wait a minute there, Inner Critic.

Are you suggesting we should be:

All knowing
Unconditionally loving?
Always there for people?
Perfect?

Does that sound like anyone you know?

2/

The very first temptation given to humans was:

'you can be like God.'

No. We cannot. We will never be like God. We can worship God and love God and follow God.

Most scandalous of all, we can enjoy God.

But we will never be like God.

3/

When we try to be like God, we get anxious, because we stop being exactly human sized.

One way to quieten your IC is to remember that all God asks is for you to be exactly human sized.

4/

You do not have to do it perfectly.
You do not have to drop everything and always be there for people.
You can get a B- in love.
You can say, 'I really don't know the answer to that.'

You can rest in Christ who is all of that.

5/

Our IC is demanding we be something we can never be: like God.

That is too much pressure. That treadmill is exhausting. It is like drinking salt water.

6/

Instead, thank your IC for its vigilance and then relegate it to the basement. No need to give it the corner office of your mind.

You can name your IC. Mine is called Milton. It makes it harder to take it seriously with a name like Milton.

(Sorry, Miltons of the world.)

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