You don’t have to stop criticizing yourself to move forward.

As you’re analyzing, avoid overanalyzing! Remember that the goal of the stress journal is not to catch yourself out or feel bad about what you discover. In other words, there should be no judgment. Instead take a compassionate, curious approach and stay open-minded.

BE SUSPICIOUS of any voice, inside or outside, that says there is something wrong with you. This voice does not like you and is not helpful. It is possible that with the awareness that you have been unkind toward someone, you might realize, in a gentle sort of way, “I don’t want to do that. It doesn’t feel very good.” And it’s not that you’re a bad

Can I honor those critics while also not buying into their bullshit?

To begin to get free of the self-critical voice, ask yourself if it is helping or hindering you in building the kind of life that you want for yourself. Is it helping you realize your dreams? Does its input give you strength to persevere? Does it give you productive new ideas that really make things better?

Metacognition might feel uncomfortable at times. It’s easy to write about what went well, regardless of the specifics that led to that success. It is more difficult to write about what went wrong. And it is even harder when, as is sometimes the case, we ourselves must take sole responsibility for why things didn’t go so well.