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Embracing Your Inner Critic: Turning Self-Criticism into a Creative Asset by Hal Stone, Sidra Stone (1993) Paperback
Hal and Sidra Stone are the creators of "Voice Dialogue" process, a therapy that transforms the inner critic from crippling adversary to productive ally. The inner critic. It whispers, whines, and needles us into place. It checks our thoughts, controls our behavior, and inhibits action. It thinks it is protecting us from being disliked, hurt, or abandoned. Instead, the critical inner voice causes shame, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and low-self-esteem. It acts as a powerful saboteur of our intimate relationships and is a major contributor to drug and alcohol abuse. Through examples and exercises, the Stones show us how to recognize the critic, how to avoid or minimize "critic attacks," and, most important, how the inner critic can become asn intelligent, perceptive, and supportive partner in life.
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First published March 5, 1993
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February 7, 2017De'Londa from the Wire is my Inner Critic personified.
"Most of us are not even aware that it is a voice or a self speaking inside of us because its constant judgments have been with us since early childhood and its running critical commentary feels like a natural part of ourselves"(4).
"The Inner Critic's original function is to spare us shame and pain" (7).
"Parents need to succeed in making you a proper person--whatever that means to them--in order to feel good about themselves. Underneath all this is their own insecurity and their own fear of failure as parents" (8).
"It is not just the words that matter when the Inner Critic speaks. It is the quality of energy behind those words" (35).
"The sense of authority, purpose, and meaning that we lack in our own lives is often carried by the Inner Critic" (37).
"The stronger the Inner Critic, the stronger the judgmental voices that have been around the person in the growing-up process. The stronger the judgmental voices around us in the growing-up process, the stronger will be the Inner Critic" (41).
"Women's Inner Critics are almost always more powerful and more persistent than men's. Historically, this difference seems to be the product of thousands of years of patriarchal thinking" (94).
"Your Inner Critic is so terrified at the thought of the judgment of others that it never considers that, indeed, they may have none" (139).
"Most of us are not even aware that it is a voice or a self speaking inside of us because its constant judgments have been with us since early childhood and its running critical commentary feels like a natural part of ourselves"(4).
"The Inner Critic's original function is to spare us shame and pain" (7).
"Parents need to succeed in making you a proper person--whatever that means to them--in order to feel good about themselves. Underneath all this is their own insecurity and their own fear of failure as parents" (8).
"It is not just the words that matter when the Inner Critic speaks. It is the quality of energy behind those words" (35).
"The sense of authority, purpose, and meaning that we lack in our own lives is often carried by the Inner Critic" (37).
"The stronger the Inner Critic, the stronger the judgmental voices that have been around the person in the growing-up process. The stronger the judgmental voices around us in the growing-up process, the stronger will be the Inner Critic" (41).
"Women's Inner Critics are almost always more powerful and more persistent than men's. Historically, this difference seems to be the product of thousands of years of patriarchal thinking" (94).
"Your Inner Critic is so terrified at the thought of the judgment of others that it never considers that, indeed, they may have none" (139).
July 17, 2016
Wonderful read, very insightful and rich with insight, counsel, and practical advise on negotiating with, understanding, working with, and ultimately transcending the Inner Critic.
One thing that particularly stood out for me was all the discussion about primary and romantic relationships were heterosexual. I'm not certain if this is a reflection of the authors' limited, heteronormative perspective or if it is that the authors are heterosexist. It would be good to have added dimension of how relationship dynamics in relation to the inner critic manifest from a gay and lesbian perspective as well.
One thing that particularly stood out for me was all the discussion about primary and romantic relationships were heterosexual. I'm not certain if this is a reflection of the authors' limited, heteronormative perspective or if it is that the authors are heterosexist. It would be good to have added dimension of how relationship dynamics in relation to the inner critic manifest from a gay and lesbian perspective as well.
December 30, 2014
Self help books are more often than not obfuscated by the very overly specialized language they are using to try to promote clarity, and this one is no different. But if you can get past the dizzying rollercoaster of judges, critics, primary selves, and disowned selves (whaaaa?), there's a solid core to be had here. I had to take their ideas and translate them into a language that was more intuitive to me, but once I did I got a lot from their theories. Pretty much recommended.
February 1, 2021
Authors Hal and Sidra Stone are Jungian trained psychologists. The Jungian concepts of collective unconsciousness, individuation, the self, and shadow psychology can be seen throughout this book.
They claim a multitude of selves lives within us that have been created from our conditioning. These selves create opposing forces within each of us. They have been a part of us for so long we aren’t aware of them
According to the authors, the inner critics' original mission was to protect us from the outside world. The inner critic is a voice that develops to protect us from the shame of being less than what we should be in the world. It is judgmental, anxious, and fearful. It makes you second guess yourself, compare yourself to others, and hinders you from evolving.
The inner critic has been talking to us since childhood, it speaks with the authority of a parent or any individual who has had a formative role in our lives. You don’t argue with it because it sounds like you.
For the past 25 years, I’ve been on a spiritual journey to discover why I think and feel the way I have. Certain occurrences convinced me something was not right. This suspicion of dissonance was the first step of many towards a breakthrough. Reading this book was my attempt at continuing to unravel this enigma.
It started with me recognizing there was a voice within me prompting me to do injurious things to myself and others. This voice couldn’t be me. This pernicious voice is something you don’t eradicate with one decision. It’s something you have to affirm-decide, affirm-decide, and do this over and over again.
To be honest, I don’t know which comes first, the affirmation or the decision. I just know it’s a process of being increasingly convinced I don’t have to heed that critical voice in its infinite variety. As I get stronger it continues its chatter, but with less authority. It’s a living thing that does not want to die.
I agree with the authors' awareness is key. Through my research and self-study, I discovered resisting the inner critic empowers it. This has been counterintuitive and frustrating because when you’re under its attack you want it to go away! This is what motivated me to read this book. I knew I had to witness this stream of nasty thoughts go past me with no judgment. I could see the benefits of this exercise in developing my discernment and intuition, but I wanted to do more. The authors did not add anything to my arsenal.
The authors promote voice dialogue as a conversational technique you engage in with the inner critic. They claim you can transmute the inner critic with this method. I do not agree.
Thoughts and emotions are energy and have a frequency. The inner critic is created from thoughts and emotions. It feeds on thoughts and emotions and lives in this realm. You cannot change the inner critic with the same things responsible for creating it. Something higher, superior must come to bear.
When I think of something I use my imagination. I see what I’m thinking about in time. It could be in the past or the future. The inner critic uses this to great advantage. By way of personal example, my wife was very ill and I was worried. I was trying to sleep, but could not. Fearful scenarios were coursing through my mind. She was snoring and as I turned to face her, all the fluid was absent from her body, she was an emaciated snoring skeleton. It startled me to wakefulness, I had been dreaming, but I thought I had witnessed this while awake.
The inner critic can use time and imagination in making fear look very real; paralyzingly real. Time can serve as a powerful cue to increasing awareness. Thoughts cannot exist without imagination and imagination cannot exist without time. When any of us have a fear our mind goes through what might happen. This what- if movie occurs within time.
In my example, the inner critic furnished the what- if movie, and I could have believed that movie as being true and allow it to torment me until circumstances disproved or confirmed what the inner critic was proposing. But I’ve disidentified from the inner critic and know the inner critic uses my thoughts to promote his itinerary. When I see my thoughts go into the future with fearful imaginings I can dismiss that as the work of the inner critic. The authors failed to talk about this in their book.
I found particularly interesting the author's description of how the inner critic can propagate itself from generation to generation. Our primary self is developed, but there is another part of us that is opposite in intensity which the authors call our disowned self. This is the self that was unable to express itself because of the family culture we grew up in.
In my case my upbringing was insecure. As a result, I lived with anxiety for a long time. My mind always thought in terms of negative outcomes, people with negative motives. I thought this was normal until I discovered it was not. My primary self was anxious, my disowned self was positive and confident. Had I not been intent on striking a balance between my primary and disowned self I would’ve undoubtedly passed this on to my children.
Our propensity for these primary and disowned selves predispose us to being victims, judges, or strong or weak individuals. At the beginning of my journey, I resented my parents for rearing me the way they had. I could have been more in the world had it not been for these hindrances handed down to me from my parents. When these revelations unfold for someone it’s important to realize we’re all capable of being taken over by the inner critic. Had my parents known better they would’ve done better.
The inner critic is incredibly cunning and becoming aware of his wiles is a lot to take in. Forgiving those for what they did unconsciously can easily be lost in the journey toward mindfulness, but it is critically important. To be fair this can be inferred from the authors writing, but it should have been stated for the reader's benefit.
There is truth to the author's claim we hate and judge our disowned selves. We’ve been trained to and we see these disowned selves in other people. This explains why people act irrationally towards others. I found the way authors used these inter-relational dynamics to differentiate between judgment and discernment fascinating. When we judge we are righteous. When we discern we are objective.
The authors failed to explain we can be responsible for the way we feel. Most of the time we blame others for our pain. We don’t realize anything existing outside of ourselves can never fill the void within ourselves. The nexus of control is within, when we are living from there we are really living.
This was an interesting read and it confirmed many things I already knew, but it did not provide me with anything new.
They claim a multitude of selves lives within us that have been created from our conditioning. These selves create opposing forces within each of us. They have been a part of us for so long we aren’t aware of them
According to the authors, the inner critics' original mission was to protect us from the outside world. The inner critic is a voice that develops to protect us from the shame of being less than what we should be in the world. It is judgmental, anxious, and fearful. It makes you second guess yourself, compare yourself to others, and hinders you from evolving.
The inner critic has been talking to us since childhood, it speaks with the authority of a parent or any individual who has had a formative role in our lives. You don’t argue with it because it sounds like you.
For the past 25 years, I’ve been on a spiritual journey to discover why I think and feel the way I have. Certain occurrences convinced me something was not right. This suspicion of dissonance was the first step of many towards a breakthrough. Reading this book was my attempt at continuing to unravel this enigma.
It started with me recognizing there was a voice within me prompting me to do injurious things to myself and others. This voice couldn’t be me. This pernicious voice is something you don’t eradicate with one decision. It’s something you have to affirm-decide, affirm-decide, and do this over and over again.
To be honest, I don’t know which comes first, the affirmation or the decision. I just know it’s a process of being increasingly convinced I don’t have to heed that critical voice in its infinite variety. As I get stronger it continues its chatter, but with less authority. It’s a living thing that does not want to die.
I agree with the authors' awareness is key. Through my research and self-study, I discovered resisting the inner critic empowers it. This has been counterintuitive and frustrating because when you’re under its attack you want it to go away! This is what motivated me to read this book. I knew I had to witness this stream of nasty thoughts go past me with no judgment. I could see the benefits of this exercise in developing my discernment and intuition, but I wanted to do more. The authors did not add anything to my arsenal.
The authors promote voice dialogue as a conversational technique you engage in with the inner critic. They claim you can transmute the inner critic with this method. I do not agree.
Thoughts and emotions are energy and have a frequency. The inner critic is created from thoughts and emotions. It feeds on thoughts and emotions and lives in this realm. You cannot change the inner critic with the same things responsible for creating it. Something higher, superior must come to bear.
When I think of something I use my imagination. I see what I’m thinking about in time. It could be in the past or the future. The inner critic uses this to great advantage. By way of personal example, my wife was very ill and I was worried. I was trying to sleep, but could not. Fearful scenarios were coursing through my mind. She was snoring and as I turned to face her, all the fluid was absent from her body, she was an emaciated snoring skeleton. It startled me to wakefulness, I had been dreaming, but I thought I had witnessed this while awake.
The inner critic can use time and imagination in making fear look very real; paralyzingly real. Time can serve as a powerful cue to increasing awareness. Thoughts cannot exist without imagination and imagination cannot exist without time. When any of us have a fear our mind goes through what might happen. This what- if movie occurs within time.
In my example, the inner critic furnished the what- if movie, and I could have believed that movie as being true and allow it to torment me until circumstances disproved or confirmed what the inner critic was proposing. But I’ve disidentified from the inner critic and know the inner critic uses my thoughts to promote his itinerary. When I see my thoughts go into the future with fearful imaginings I can dismiss that as the work of the inner critic. The authors failed to talk about this in their book.
I found particularly interesting the author's description of how the inner critic can propagate itself from generation to generation. Our primary self is developed, but there is another part of us that is opposite in intensity which the authors call our disowned self. This is the self that was unable to express itself because of the family culture we grew up in.
In my case my upbringing was insecure. As a result, I lived with anxiety for a long time. My mind always thought in terms of negative outcomes, people with negative motives. I thought this was normal until I discovered it was not. My primary self was anxious, my disowned self was positive and confident. Had I not been intent on striking a balance between my primary and disowned self I would’ve undoubtedly passed this on to my children.
Our propensity for these primary and disowned selves predispose us to being victims, judges, or strong or weak individuals. At the beginning of my journey, I resented my parents for rearing me the way they had. I could have been more in the world had it not been for these hindrances handed down to me from my parents. When these revelations unfold for someone it’s important to realize we’re all capable of being taken over by the inner critic. Had my parents known better they would’ve done better.
The inner critic is incredibly cunning and becoming aware of his wiles is a lot to take in. Forgiving those for what they did unconsciously can easily be lost in the journey toward mindfulness, but it is critically important. To be fair this can be inferred from the authors writing, but it should have been stated for the reader's benefit.
There is truth to the author's claim we hate and judge our disowned selves. We’ve been trained to and we see these disowned selves in other people. This explains why people act irrationally towards others. I found the way authors used these inter-relational dynamics to differentiate between judgment and discernment fascinating. When we judge we are righteous. When we discern we are objective.
The authors failed to explain we can be responsible for the way we feel. Most of the time we blame others for our pain. We don’t realize anything existing outside of ourselves can never fill the void within ourselves. The nexus of control is within, when we are living from there we are really living.
This was an interesting read and it confirmed many things I already knew, but it did not provide me with anything new.
November 30, 2024
First ….. it used the word critic 15586339395,000 times in this book. Trust me … I counted 😂😂 not really but it felt like that make. Good read … for someone out there just not for me 🤷🏼♀️ gave some good insight just didn’t keep my interest
June 13, 2013
An amazing book that I'm shocked hasn't gotten more awareness. I'd recommend to anyone. Matter of fact I've already recommended it to multiple friends and colleagues.
Read
October 20, 2009 An amazing must read for anybody wanting to lead a self-aware life. Turn off the continual torment and open yourself up to some peace and happiness!
March 10, 2017
Okay, nothing I hadn’t read before, or did not personally know. A little glib.
August 1, 2022
Het boek heeft een mooie passende omslag bij de inhoud van het boek; de meerdere ikken en de innerlijke criticus die in onze binnenwereld leven. Dit boek legt uit wat/wie die innerlijke criticus nou is en hoe deze is ontstaan. Daarna leert het boek je stapsgewijs en met oefeningen deze te herkennen en ermee te leren leven. Hij gaat niet weg, maar je kunt hem wel leren kennen en ontmaskeren. Dit laatste is de Nederlandse vertaling. De letterlijke vertaling vanuit de Engelse versie zou zijn; ‘omhelzen’. En dat is wat ik heb ervaren. Hoofdstuk voor hoofdstuk leerde ik mijn innerlijke criticus kennen en kreeg deze een gezicht (een letterlijke oefening in het boek). Ik ging in gesprek met mijn innerlijke ikken middels Voice Dialoque en ontdekte de beweegredenen van hun aanwezigheid en hoe de criticus met hen samenwerkt. De oefeningen gaven veel inzicht in hoe mijn innerlijke criticus zich manifesteert in mijn gedachten en in mijn leven en bouwde een gezonde band met haar op. Nu weet ik dat zij er is en dat ik haar mag inzetten op de gezonde kritische momenten. Van stoorzender naar bewuste bondgenoot. Ik heb mijn innerlijke criticus bedankt en omarmd.
November 28, 2024
Be honest. Are there moments in your life when a voice pops into your head and tells you a bunch of 'you should's' and 'you shouldn'ts'? When you make a mistake do you experience a an inner monologue explaining how completely useless you are as being a human? I know I do. But a lot less so now that I've read this wonderful book by Hal and Sidra Stone.
If you're new to parts-work or the idea of sub-personalities, I would recommend another book by Hal and Sidra called 'Embracing our Selves'. This book however, is also great starting point and unpacks one of the most destructive sub-personalities we walk around with. Constantly bombarded with adverts and ideas around what we should and shouldn't be the inner-critic has more fuel than it can handle.
This book is an easy read with lots of journaling points to keep you engaged throughout. One of the biggest takeaways is how empowered you'll feel as you develop an aware ego and continue to catch yourself in moments when the inner-critic is killing your creativity or making you feel depressed. Be empowered, read the book!
If you're new to parts-work or the idea of sub-personalities, I would recommend another book by Hal and Sidra called 'Embracing our Selves'. This book however, is also great starting point and unpacks one of the most destructive sub-personalities we walk around with. Constantly bombarded with adverts and ideas around what we should and shouldn't be the inner-critic has more fuel than it can handle.
This book is an easy read with lots of journaling points to keep you engaged throughout. One of the biggest takeaways is how empowered you'll feel as you develop an aware ego and continue to catch yourself in moments when the inner-critic is killing your creativity or making you feel depressed. Be empowered, read the book!
April 17, 2020
Byla by to hodně zajímavá kniha, kdyby existoval český překlad Embracing Ourselves: The Voice Dialogue Manual, protože kniha na tuto základní práci manželů Stonových neustále odkazuje a přepokládá její znalost a především zkušenost s "dialogem hlasů", což je poněkud problém (a anglicky se mi to opravdu číst nechtělo).
I přes tuto zásadní výtku četba této knihy určitě nebyl ztracený čas - jednak si potvrdíte, že protiklady se opravdu přitahují (máme to doma) a nahlédnete trošku na tu dynamiku za tím a především se třeba trochu zamyslíte nad tím, co vysílá vaše "rádio MAGOR" (mimochodem suprový termín). A podnětný je přístup, že vnitřního kritika nedokážete potlačit, ale musíte ho přijmout a naučit se s ním žít a ideálně ho ještě využívat ke svému prospěchu.
Asi bych doporučila si nejdřív přečíst tu základní knihu (byť anglicky) a pak teprve tuhle, pak to asi bude ještě výživnější, ale i bez toho základu je tam dost zajímavých myšlenek. Nelituji, že jsem ji četla, plnohodnotné tři hvězdičky.
Kontext: Čteno na doporučení Honzy Vojáčka.
První věta: "Na cestě za sebepoznáním přestaňme hledat, co je na nás špatného."
Poslední věta: "Můžete být tanečníkem, který je plný energie."
I přes tuto zásadní výtku četba této knihy určitě nebyl ztracený čas - jednak si potvrdíte, že protiklady se opravdu přitahují (máme to doma) a nahlédnete trošku na tu dynamiku za tím a především se třeba trochu zamyslíte nad tím, co vysílá vaše "rádio MAGOR" (mimochodem suprový termín). A podnětný je přístup, že vnitřního kritika nedokážete potlačit, ale musíte ho přijmout a naučit se s ním žít a ideálně ho ještě využívat ke svému prospěchu.
Asi bych doporučila si nejdřív přečíst tu základní knihu (byť anglicky) a pak teprve tuhle, pak to asi bude ještě výživnější, ale i bez toho základu je tam dost zajímavých myšlenek. Nelituji, že jsem ji četla, plnohodnotné tři hvězdičky.
Kontext: Čteno na doporučení Honzy Vojáčka.
První věta: "Na cestě za sebepoznáním přestaňme hledat, co je na nás špatného."
Poslední věta: "Můžete být tanečníkem, který je plný energie."
June 2, 2019
An interesting look into our multi faceted personalities
This book offers interesting perspective into that critical nagging voice in our heads that most of us have. Although i found the book a little flowery in places and also suggesting relying on god, which tends to turn me off a little, although I can put my own spin on the meaning behind that, overall it was a good read.
It can be a bit hard to keep up with all the various personalities or voices as it were, running inside our heads, but the basic premise is they are all facets of our personality, the critic, the rule maker, the perfectionist, the inner parent, the inner child. After reading this book I am more aware that if a thought drops, it could be any aspect of your various ‘voices’ instigating it, You can learn to question your thoughts and ask yourself do you really believe what your brain is telling you?
This book offers interesting perspective into that critical nagging voice in our heads that most of us have. Although i found the book a little flowery in places and also suggesting relying on god, which tends to turn me off a little, although I can put my own spin on the meaning behind that, overall it was a good read.
It can be a bit hard to keep up with all the various personalities or voices as it were, running inside our heads, but the basic premise is they are all facets of our personality, the critic, the rule maker, the perfectionist, the inner parent, the inner child. After reading this book I am more aware that if a thought drops, it could be any aspect of your various ‘voices’ instigating it, You can learn to question your thoughts and ask yourself do you really believe what your brain is telling you?
November 19, 2022
I guess not all self-help books you find in your parents' basement are good. I loved "The Dance of Anger", but this one was super weird. I could not get over the the "conversations with the inner critic". I don't know if they were supposed to be funny or impactful or what? I just thought it was really strange.
I know I have an inner critic, but it is nowhere near as harsh as the example in the book. If someone had that much self doubt, they'd be cripplingly depressed. I started to feel real good about myself after reading two chapters of this book.
I love the idea of this book but I was looking for something more universal, that the average person struggles with. And without those strange "conversations with the inner critic". So weird.
I know I have an inner critic, but it is nowhere near as harsh as the example in the book. If someone had that much self doubt, they'd be cripplingly depressed. I started to feel real good about myself after reading two chapters of this book.
I love the idea of this book but I was looking for something more universal, that the average person struggles with. And without those strange "conversations with the inner critic". So weird.
August 30, 2017
Super citatelna knizka. Ked som citala pasaze, ako clovek ktoreho v nejakom momente zoziera vnutorny kritik v ostatnych ludoch vzbudzuje vonkajsich sudcov trochu sa mi ulavilo. Pretoze sa mi to stava obcas a nechapala som. Preco mi vsetci este nakladaju ked sa citim mizerne. Pri citani som mala pocit ze vidim napisane a formulovane veci ktore poznam. Tie ktore sa mi uz tak nestavaju, tie ktore ano a potesilo ma ze poznam aj kritika transformovaneho na dobreho rodica. Velmi zrozumitelne pouzite priklady ktore ilustruju jednotlive fazy procesu alebo situacie s involvovanym vnutornym kritikom.
November 18, 2024
Boek is fijn om inzicht te verschaffen in de wereld van de innerlijke Criticus. Zelf vind ik het wat ontbreken aan structuur door de tips hier en daar verspreid door het boek heen. Maar, neem dat maar met een korreltje zout omdat er een criticus een review zit te schrijven ;). Behalve dat vind ik de 2e helft erg negatief over de kerk. Ik had gehoopt dat er enige nuance in gebracht werd. Goede introductie in de wereld van de criticus, een aanrader.
October 12, 2025
It's a good read that can give you clarity for sure. However, it could be written in a simpler way and with a more direct approach.
I don't recommend this without seeing a therapist because it can be completely outside of what you are working with him/her at the moment.
I don't recommend this without seeing a therapist because it can be completely outside of what you are working with him/her at the moment.
November 11, 2017
One of the most influential books I've ever read – for anyone trying to break free from patterns of their past while the past is exactly what might be holding them back.
February 10, 2019
I just skimmed it for inspiration for my workshop. It seems like a solid work on the topic.
May 24, 2020
Very useful reference book for coaches
I used couple of learning s and techniques with my clients and it helped clients to move forward. There are really good nuggets.
I used couple of learning s and techniques with my clients and it helped clients to move forward. There are really good nuggets.
April 17, 2025
fajna daje do myslenia, pokazuje krytyka jako cos co chce nam pomoc ale nie zawsze wie jak
June 28, 2025
Dramatic but this book changed my brain
June 30, 2025
As far as self help books go, this is a winner
June 10, 2015
The book is quite good, and as always contains very interesting insights by Hal & Sidra to be used every day, but to me, it is too redundant next to 'Embracing our Selves'.
On its own, this book could, I think, be contained in half the pages (sometimes, the same 3 or 4 sentences are repeated twice on a page... surprised that passed the editing stage!). If you take out the EOS redundancies, you're left with one or two extremely interesting chapters, that would've been better added to that book.
Only my opinion of course, and perhaps my expectations were too high after reading Embracing our Selves.
Still an interesting read, and good thing to recap whatever you learned in previous Stone books...
On its own, this book could, I think, be contained in half the pages (sometimes, the same 3 or 4 sentences are repeated twice on a page... surprised that passed the editing stage!). If you take out the EOS redundancies, you're left with one or two extremely interesting chapters, that would've been better added to that book.
Only my opinion of course, and perhaps my expectations were too high after reading Embracing our Selves.
Still an interesting read, and good thing to recap whatever you learned in previous Stone books...
August 12, 2012
insightful , thoughtful , and readable! (not-too psyhcyo-babble or pedantic) A book to discover what may be holding you back. Good examples with case histories. The authors bring their rich experience as therapists and sincere compassion to their writing. I discovered a lot about my self in reading this.
July 5, 2009
Although at times it was a struggle to get through some parts which didn't particularly resonate with me. It contains some very useful elements and contributed to my awareness on my inner workings. I read the Dutch version and would like to read the English version at some time.
September 21, 2010
This was very eye-opening. Made me much more aware of how we (I !) create so many of my own problems. Very insightful.
January 23, 2014
So meaningful to understand where those voices in my head come from and how to turn them from the dark side to help me!
June 9, 2016
Last chapter was very good - - Transforming the Inner Critic. Dialog, Journal, Parenting, Honoring. Understanding that the voice is from fear -- fear of shame, danger, the unknown.
October 2, 2016
The idea of talking with ones inner voices isn't new to me, but this book has an approach I wasn't familiar with. It's bearing fruit. It could have used better editing, though.
June 26, 2024
sorta good, sorta got long by the end. but good points on inner voice dialogue and how it works.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews