Have you ever really listened to that little voice in your head?   Have you ever paid attention to how you feel when that little voice pops in your mind?

We all have a little voice or inner critic in our minds that tells us things.  

I’m willing to bet that if you really pay attention to what that voice is saying and how it makes you feel, those thoughts and emotions are often negatively impacting on your outlook on life.  

Being surrounded by negativity all the time can hold you back from success and cause burnout. 

Healthcare professionals have some of the worst inner critics I have encountered.

Healthcare professionals have some of the worst inner critics I have encountered.  We are constantly inundated with self-doubt and constantly asking ourselves: 

“Why should someone listen to me?”

 “I can’t even take care of myself, how can I help others?” 

“ I don’t know enough to be called an expert.” 

Thoughts like these lead to a lack of self-empathy. 

When you really sit down and analyze what these negative self-thoughts are saying, you realize you would never in the real world allow someone else to say these things to you. But here you are degrading yourself. 

And for healthcare professionals that is a recipe for burnout and compassion fatigue.  

So how do you stop these negative self-thoughts from happening? 

The first step is recognizing that it's happening.  

Learn to tune in when those thoughts come and label them as negative.  In Positive Intelligence coaching, we call this our Judge. And the Judge does just that -  Judges, us, others, and the situation around us. It’s negative and harsh, and you don’t need to be surrounded by this negativity all the time. 

But what complicates this, is the Judge has accomplices. Positive Intelligence calls these accomplices Saboteurs.  There are 9 of them in addition to the Judge:

1. The Avoider
2. The Controller
3. The Hyper-Achiever
4. The Hyper-Rational
5. The Hyper-Vigilant
6. The Please (This one is prominent in most healthcare providers)
7. The Stickler
8. The Restless
9. The Victim

Some of these are stronger than others. But the takeaway here is that each of these saboteurs works with the Judge to tell you lies.  Lies about yourself that just aren’t true. 

This is a learned behavior that your mind started to keep you safe, a kind of protective mechanism.  This becomes a problem however when you aren’t able to turn it off. 

When these thoughts become an ingrained pathway in our brain- a regulated response to a stimulus that happens every time you encounter a certain situation. 

You have the ability to shift out of this pattern!

Don’t fret! You have the ability to shift out of this pattern!  Just as you help patients move out of dysfunctional movement patterns that are no longer serving them, you can shift your mind to create more positive thoughts in your head.  Positive Intelligence calls this your Sage. 

You can access this by recognizing the lies of the saboteurs and stopping them in their tracks. 

One easy thing you can do to interrupt the pathway that many therapists have an acute understanding of is breath.  Breath is so powerful. It’s healing for our patients and it can be healing for us as healthcare providers.  A couple of focused deep breaths can help stop the cycle, and give you time to shift to more positive thoughts. 

Interested in learning more about how to stop your inner critic and reduce burnout? 

Join me for my presentation at the Birth Healing Summit on April 18.  If you are a pelvic floor therapist and haven’t attended this event before, you really should!  It is a wonderful event full of knowledgeable speakers to help you heal your pregnant and postpartum patients. 

This year I’m presenting on Silencing Your Inner Critic- How to Step out of Imposter Syndrome and Reducing Burn Out! 

During this talk I’ll go over the three powers of Positive Intelligence which are recognize, intercept, and activate. We’ll also cover how to take command over your thoughts through PQ reps, which is like doing deep breathing when you notice the negative thoughts coming on. 

I’m also going to dive into what part of the brain the positive sage lives in and why that's so important. And then we'll explore the powers of the sage, which can be quite different from the powers of the judge and the saboteurs.

I hope you’ll join me for this talk! I have a special gift for those who attend the summit! 

Daily access to the event is free, but you can upgrade to get lifetime access to the seminars! You can register for free access or upgrade to a paid ticket by using my affiliate link: https://bit.ly/birth_healing_susanclinton

And if you want to hear a little more about this topic, listen to my podcast with Lynn Shulte, the host of the Birth Healing Summit.

Listen to the podcast here: https://youtu.be/VpxbNkN9W0U.