Dave Kashen explains how to separate yourself from your inner critic by becoming the observer rather than the talker. He suggests cataloging self-critical thoughts so you can dismiss them and stay present instead of getting caught in your head.
One of the most powerful things you can do is shift from identifying as the talker to identifying as the listener, right? So almost every initial session I have with clients, I ask them, how do you know when you're thinking? And then they'll end up saying something like, well, I'm always thinking, or I'm looking up. And I'll invite them to recognize that the way they know they're thinking is they hear a voice in their head talking. That's the talker. The listener is the one who can hear the talker talking. And if you're out in the streets and someone just started hurling insults at you, it's obvious you could just ignore that person's voice. But what's less obvious is we also have that choice to ignore the talker and the voice inside of us. And one of the most powerful ways to do that is to start to catalog and make a list of what does the talker tend to say to you? What are the criticisms? Where does it take your attention that's other than the present that isn't relevant? So that you can catch it in the moment and shift from identifying as the talker to the listener and just ignore those thoughts and come back to being present.
