All of us divided ourselves and have a basic conflict in relation to our goals and aspirations in life. On one hand, we have feelings of warm self-regard, and we have traits and behaviors that we like or feel comfortable with in ourselves. We have natural tendencies to grow and develop and to pursue our personal and vocational goals, as well as desires to be close in our relationships and to search for meaning in life. In this book, these tendencies are referred to as the real you or your real self, because they are made up of friendly, compassionate view of yourself.

On the other hand, we have an unfriendly, critical view of ourselves. Often these destructives thoughts and attitudes become intense and take precedence over our more realistic or positive ways of thinking. They influence us to limit ourselves and sabotage our successes and, at times, to feel hostile and cynical toward other people. In some cases, under stressful conditions, this negative way of thinking can increase, gaining more control over our actions, as well as its critical, angry point of view, is referred to in this book as the critical inner voice, because it is the part of you that is turned against your real self. It encourages and strongly influences self-defeating and self-destructive.

Depending on which part of your personality is more prominent at a given time, the real you or the critical inner voice, you will express an entirely different point of view, and your behaviors and interactions with others will be different. Perhaps you have noticed this interesting phenomenon in the people close to you; they can be very different when they seem to be “themselves” than when they do not seem themselves. When they are themselves, they are usually relaxed and far more likable. When they are being influenced by their critical inner voice, they are typically more uptight and unlikable.

excerpt from Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice: A Revolutionary Program to Counter Negative Thoughts and Live Free from Imagined Limitations by Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D., Lisa Firestone, Ph.D., and Joyce Catlett, M.A. Dr. Lisa Firestone will be hosting a Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice webinar on Tuesday, May 25 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM PDT. You can register here.