The negative internal critic

Have you got an internal critic? I'm betting the answer is yes because most of us have that inner voice, the one that will happily give a running commentary on our lives, making negative comments and generally giving us a hard time. 
The interesting thing is not whether or not we have that inner critic, but whether we choose to listen to it or not. Have you ever stopped to wonder whether it is actually worth listening to? How do you know whether to pay attention or not? 
When I talk to clients and ask them whether they consider themselves to have high self-esteem or not, I have discovered that the ones who do have high self-esteem have something in common - they have learnt that their internal critic is not always worth listening to and have strategies for ignoring it. Some clients describe how they pretend they have a volume control and can turn down the volume on the negative voice. Others imagine another more positive voice coming from their other shoulder. Others just simply imagine turning their backs on the critic or walking on by ignoring it.
The interesting thing is not whether you have that internal critic or not, but whether you accept it and listen to it without question, or whether you have ways of filtering it out. So the next time you're aware of that negative internal voice, just stop and wonder whether you should take it seriously, or whether you can come up with your own ways of ignoring it. This is an important skill that you can develop and will lead to you being much happier in the long run!