a piece of paper, write their life
history, or shape them out of
wax. The idea is to get a physical
image that can be destroyed.
Now this part will appeal to your
inner child because we are going
to Fire our Infernal-Internal
Critic. When I was a little girl,
back before color TV, I had trou-
ble understanding the concept of
someone being fired from a job.
The only fire that I knew about
was the fire like on the end of a
candle. So, to be “fired” meant to
set someone on fire. (Okay, so it’s
an extreme way to leave a job -
but I was really, really young.)
And this is what I did to get rid
of my Infernal Internal Critic. I
began by sitting down and go-
ing into a meditative state. As I
prepared the image, I listened
to every crappy lie the Infernal
Internal Critic had to say about
me and my desires and dreams.
There were a couple of times
that I stopped and walked away.
But I wasn’t going to let it win.
The Critic was leaving and I was
going to kill the Fucking Gerbil!
When the figure was finished,
I had him. I looked him in his
eye and called him by name the
Infernal Internal Critic and I
made sure I no longer associat-
ed him with any single person,
living or dead, whom I may have
encountered in this or any of my
lifetimes. I held Infernal Internal
Critic in the palm of my hand
and I told the it that I couldn’t
trust its assessments anymore
and its services were no longer
required. Once I felt I had gotten
everything I wanted to say off my
chest, I set fire to it. After it was
just a pile of ash, flushed it down
the toilet; a humiliating end to a
devastating being.
Now I was ready to listen to a
true critique. We need to have
constructive critics (both inter-
nally and externally) to make our
dreams into reality by asking us
the tough questions and helping
us examine the path we intend
to take. But in the end, the
journey is ours to take. Without
th