The Inner Critic Part One

Why did you write that? That really was a lame way to start a blog post. Start again. Maybe you aren’t up to doing this. Maybe you should be working out instead. Or doing anything but trying to write when you are still half asleep. 

Well, okay, there’s that inner critic, that primitive part of our brain, the reptilian part. The lizard brain. The one that is in charge of our fight or flight response when we are being signaled that the saber tooth tiger is getting ready to pounce and the one that says stop writing. Start over. This sucks. This is the part of your brain that breaks your flow in life as well as in writing by casting doubt. Trying to protect you from looking like a fool, or worse. It actually doesn’t know what it thinks, so how can it tell you what to do? It is the inner critic. The one that can stop the flow of what you sense may be something important, something that might change the world, or at least your life, or the moment. You hear it. So you pause, and in that pause the delicious and pertinent thought that was trying to make it from you know not where, dissipates. It stops its flow down your arm and through your fingers to the keyboard. Now you are stumped. Where was this going? What was I saying? And so, in that moment the flow of thoughts and words stops dead in its tracks and your fingers freeze just above the letters you were about to type. The inner critic can screw around with your mind until you think coffee would have been a better way to start the day. Where was I going with this? Oh, I remember! When you write, write; don’t think. When you start thinking you drift away from flow; that is the inner critic throwing you off the tracks. It takes an inner struggle (which can sometimes feel as arduous as fighting off that saber tooth tiger) but you must keep writing. That is imperative. Editing is for later.  Ignore the critic’s voice and just keep writing. There is nothing to fear. Keep writing. More on this tomorrow. Time for coffee.

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