The power of your inner voices

Mental tools can help clear one’s head. For example, when the inner voice speaks up and loudly criticizes anything and everything.

Text by Mathias Maul

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Image: RichVintage/istockphoto.com

You might be familiar with inner voices that sometimes appear out of nowhere, occasionally with good remarks, but more often with critical ones. Comments such as, “Damn it, you’re late again!” or “That’s just great! If you don’t understand your own text, how are the customers supposed to?” are among the harmless ones. Many clients tell me that they are harder on themselves than they would ever be on others. Sometimes our brain conjures up other people as well, and the monologue turns into a dialogue or even an argument with the whole – inner – team: bosses, family, or (ex-)partners.

As long as you can distinguish whether a voice exists only within you or comes from another person who is actually present, there is no need to worry: this is completely normal. A valuable assumption for our inner life is that every discourse is meaningful, even if it may not (yet) be the best possible one. ...