A major Inner Critic habit is control. I often joke that there’s 1,000,000 layers and levels to letting go of it and I’m only on level ninety-nine ;) 

 

It’s hard to let go of control because… 

 

We think things should go a certain way. 

 We think if we worry or stress we’ll influence the trajectory of the situation.

 We think we know best about how things are supposed to go.

 

Ya’ll — that’s a bunch of crazy thinking.

 

Let me tell you about my splinter from hell and why trust and flow are waaaay better than control.

 

Exactly one week ago I contracted the biggest splinter of my life ;) I could feel all of my finger innards separate to make room for this large piece of wood to make its home. I couldn’t bend my finger and could barely see the wood because it was so deep.

 

I about passed out trying to pick away at the skin layers with a needle to get it out— yes, that’s why my degree is in Marketing and not health care, OK!?  — and finally gave up.

 

My wife said to trust my body. That it would reject it in due time. 

 

I had a hard time trusting this. What if she was wrong? What if my finger got infected and it needed to be amputated? What if I die!? 

 

It’s OK, you can roll your eyes, the drama isn’t lost on me :) 

 

I decided to take some deep breaths and trust her and my body.

I then asked myself an action-oriented question: What do I have the power to do?

 

I have the power to do some research and found out that drawing salve is effective. So I kept my tender phalange wrapped in salve-covered bandaids for several days making sure I checked for signs of infection. 

 

Today, one week later, my finger is healed and the splinter is rising to the surface. A few more days and I’ll easily be able to pick it out. 

 

I could have worried and stressed myself through the experience and the healing would have happened anyway.

 

In fact, I could have actually slowed down the natural process by trying to control and stress through it since our hormones impact healing and we impact our hormones by what we think. 

Here’s a great article by Jennifer Weinberg, Preventive and Lifestyle Medicine Physician and Author about how our thoughts, hormones, and health all work together.

 

This splinter reminded me of several things…

 

We are intuitive beings

Our bodies are beautifully designed to work and take care of us

Trust and flow are the absolute best ways to move through life (and splinters ;)) VS. control

I love my wife’s ‘keep it real’ wisdom :) 

 

What are you trying to control that you could be allowing yourself to trust and flow through? What’s an action-oriented question to ask yourself and take action on? [DO IT!]

  

If control is your go-to Inner Critic pattern and you're tired of it I have just the class for you! The next MindBodySWEAT small group coaching class starts up October 13th for a handful of women in growth mode. Get on the first-to-know list now.

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