Posted on by Donna Donabella

Poetry Sunday-Inner Critic

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Inner Critic

 

 

Inner Critic (IC)~You can do better, Donna.  

You know and so do I.  

I don’t want to hear excuses.  

I just want to see results.

 

 

My dear Inner Critic, I know you mean well,

but I beg to differ with you.  I

am not perfect, even though you want me to be.

I just can’t.  No, I just WON’T be perfect!

And no amount of haranguing will make it so.

 

 

IC~Look, all you need to do is work

harder and longer.

More effort that’s what you need.

 

 

It won’t matter, don’t you see,

because I am flawed.  I do try

my best, but in the end I will make mistakes.

I will fall face down many times over. But I WILL pick myself up.

 

 

IC~But why fall?

Do you want to get hurt, scraped, embarrassed?

Don’t you understand, I am trying to protect you from this.

 

 

I know you are.  You are, after all, part of me.

And you mean well.  But no, I do not fear the fall,

because I know it will happen.  And when it does,

I will learn to fly again, and fall, and fly, and…..

It is the inevitable cycle.

 

 

IC~ARE YOU CRAZY?!!

What is wrong with you?!

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard….

 

 

Maybe so, but it is my sacred life.

And as part of me, you will just have to accept it.

No more shouting.  No more belittling or bemoaning.

Understand this-I AM STRONG.  I am enough.

And I am flourishing just fine the way I am at the moment.

 

 

Now come on, let’s go have some fun!

 

 

IC~OK, but I still think…….

 

 

No thinking my dear Inner Critic,

and no talking.  Let’s just be for now….

In this moment….time to enjoy life!

 

 

© Donna Donabella 2016

 

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I read a prompt a while ago where they asked us to have a conversation with our Inner Critic.  I have had a long-standing Love-Hate relationship with that part of me, with me losing more times than I care to count.  So I thought it was about time we had it out….after all this Inner Critic was holding me back and I was letting it.

 

As a reforming perfectionist, I am dedicating this poem to all of us who have been caught in Perfections trap.  And most especially, I dedicate this to my lovely niece, Natalie on her 13th birthday, today!  Like her Aunt Donna, she is a perfectionist.  A wonderful goal to to try to reach, perfection, as long as we don’t let it hold us down and make us feel bad about ourselves, as I have done.  So here’s to you my dear niece!  I wish for you the means for working with your Inner Critic, and not letting it get the best of you.  Oh and she is a most gifted and creative poet as well!

 

 

 

I am joining in with Poets United for their weekly poetry link up for poets who blog, and Sanaa@A Dash of Sunny for her Prompt Nights every Friday.  This week’s theme is ‘The Hidden Realm’, that safe haven I find inside as I heal and discover my true self.

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I am using pictures of Columbines, and faded Columbine petals that represent Anxious, and Resolved To Win, in the Language of Flowers!

 

 

 

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I leave you with a few additional words about Inner Critics.  I welcome you to download the photo and share it.

Inner Critic

All other photos and original content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Living From Happiness, 2014-2016.  Any reprints or use of other photos or content is by permission only.

62 Replies to “Poetry Sunday-Inner Critic”

  1. Whistles!! ❤❤ Gosh this is absolutely amazing Donna 😀 you have unlocked perhaps the most crucial element which lies hidden in us all. Especially adore “Maybe so, but it is my sacred life and as part of me, you will just have to accept it.” Here I would like to add that you’re a diamond; and a diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfection 🙂 Beautifully penned. Thank you so much for participating at Prompt Nights and for your constant love and support ❤❤

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

  12. Lady, we don’t do things unless they feel perfect… why we go forward , only in retrospect, we find differently. But, we are perfect in our creativity as it happens. I have found none of your inspiration lacking, other than pure art.
    ZQ

    1. Wise words my friend…we do move forward with dreams of perfection….and such high praise from you, thank you! I adore your words, ‘But, we are perfect in our creativity as it happens’….that fills me with joy!

  13. What a wonderful outlook on a conversation that so many of us have or need to have with our IC. Delightful write!

  14. Oh, wonderful! I just said in one of my haiku: just be in the moment! Yes! And we like birds, they also fall before flying high….

  15. Donna, I came expecting to find your usual beautiful photos and accompanying verse. But, instead find this. Started grinning and clapping, laughing out loud. Love it. But, then, here in the comments, you say that the voice of your IC is male. That could be a problem, because you are female. It might be best to find him a female partner. One that could teach him that the feminine is the very essence of creation, not to be controlled by imposed rules of perfection. Birth is a messy business, filled with pain and some amount of fear, but also carrying wonderful surprises and joys untold. Gifts, I might add, that we freely share with our male companions, once they understand that being human is being perfectly imperfect. Thanks for this one, it made my day,

    Elizabeth

    1. Oh Elizabeth how wonderful that it made your day…..and I found it interesting that my IC is sometimes male…especially when trying to exert control. I think it may explain other issues I had in my life! Loved your comment.

  20. I loved the light heartedness dancing between what could have been a painful dialogue – seems like role reversal and IC became the child having to learn to play –
    p.s. heart meltingly soft pastel Columbines <3

    1. You, my friend, are always so astute and can read me quite easily. My IC has been in control for far too long and needed a good dressing down. I just couldn’t be too harsh so I was happy that this way worked for me and IC. Oh the columbines of spring do just melt my heart too!

  21. Dear Great Aunt Donna the Great as in wonderful! You have given your niece the insight into your truth and wisdom, it is a precious gift. I am not a perfectionist and wish I could be, I sat next to my friend at a card making event, she made two perfect cards I made 20… but some of mine said merry ristmas!! We both laughed and wished we could be more like the other!
    Wren x

  22. No self is harder on us than the self that lives in us. And like your poem suggests, we must not let that self’s need for perfection rule who we are (especially if said self defines perfection as a thing nearly inhuman). It is human to make mistakes and learn from them. It is human–and very wise–to remember that we are not just enough, but that we are and that is glorious. ♥

  24. The columbines are absolutely beautiful!

    I really enjoyed the inner dialogue here – I’m sure many of us can relate.

  25. I love the idea of externalizing your inner critic. Years ago, a friend helped me to get some control over mine by telling me “If you ever succeed in being as perfect as you want to be, you won’t have any friends because you’ll be insufferable!” It turns out that most of us want relationships with humans not with paragons of perfection that always leave us feeling inadequate. It was a very refreshing and freeing perspective. 🙂

  26. Oopsy Daisy this is awesome! I wish I had read it before I published my anniversary post! haha Inner critic in me is running in rounds dazed and angry at me since I could have done better.. lol Awesome writing dear.

  28. This is a truly wonderful dialogue – one we all need to undertake at times when we are being critical of ourselves. I love the strength with which you claim yourself, so we’ll done 🙂

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