Welcome.
This is for the middle of your week, when the voice in your head is getting louder. Not the helpful voice that reminds you to pick up milk. The other one. The one that says you are falling behind, that you are not doing enough.
You have tried arguing with that voice before. The voice always has a comeback. So today we are not going to fight it. We are going to turn it down.
Imagine there is a volume knob on the side of your head. Right now, that critical voice is probably at a seven or an eight. It is running the room. Every thought gets filtered through it, and everything comes back sounding like you are failing.
Reach your hand up right now. You can do this for real or just picture it. Find that invisible knob and slowly turn it to the left. Feel it click down from a six to a five to a four. Keep going until it hits a two or a three.
The voice is still there, like a television in another room. But at a three, it does not run anything. At a three, it is just noise. And you do not have to obey noise.
Take a breath in that quieter room. Notice how much more space there is in your head when the volume is low.
Your Tiny Healing Habit for today is “The Volume Check.” When the critical voice gets loud, do not argue with it. Just ask yourself, “What number is this at?” If it is above a five, reach out and turn the invisible dial to the left. It is a little silly, and that is the point. The critic loses its power when you are pantomiming a volume knob in the grocery store.
