We are often our own worst critic.Because we know ourselves so well, we see all the warts.We focus on our mistakes and our failures.And this does not serve us.What if we were more gentle with ourselves?What if we were more forgiving and kind to ourselves?What would happen?How would we feel?If we just gave ourselves a break once in a while, what difference would that make in our life?There are so many things we beat ourselves up over.When we listen to that voice in our heads, it is often not very kind.Internally, we tend to treat ourselves worse than our enemies.What if we changed that?What if we stopped criticizing ourselves so much?What if we stopped seeing our failures as mistakes and instead viewed them as lessons to learn?How would our lives be different?Would we be more calm, more relaxed?Would we have more confidence, more resilience?What if we transformed the bias against ourselves into one that believes in ourselves?Would that not change our world?Would that not serve us and support us to be better?To do more important work?To treat others better?To learn more, to grow more, to live more?When we become our own best friend we change our lives.When we teach the inner critic to become an inner cheerleader, we turn from a caterpillar into a butterfly.

~ Sam Liebowitz, The Conscious Consultant