Don’t let your inner critic get the best of you.

Acceptance is an art of living.  

When we look out the window, our view of the outside is really depended on where we are standing from. Have you tried looking through a window that was too high, too low, or simply too narrow and it was challenging? Did you give up or tried another way to see through?

When we become critical of others, it is really an alert to ourselves that we are reacting to something within ourselves.  The person, situation(s), or thing in the outside world triggering our inner critic to uprise is an innocent bystander.  It is simply that we are not seeing clearly because the lens (windows) through our eyes are cloudy and dirty.  

A funny story that my friend shared with me, which highlights that our inner critic can sometimes get the best of us.

A woman looks outside her window and complains at the neighbor’s dirty clothes. She is outrage and tells her husband that she feels that she needs to tell the neighbor off, and tell her neighbor how to wash the clothes, and how her washing is way better.  Her husband sits there and listens to his wife.  The next day, the woman looks at the window and said with surprise that her neighbor clothes are finally clean and she smiles with gladness.  

She said to her husband, “look outside the window, you can see that her clothes are so clean!”

Her husband said “Yes, I know.”

“How do you know?” said the wife.

Her husband said, “OH this morning, I cleaned our windows.”

The moral of the story:

When we point our finger out to someone or something, remember, there are three fingers (and a thumb) pointing back at you.  We must also clean our windows, so we can view the outside world with clear visions. This way, our “stuff” would not cloud our judgment. When we are highly critical of others, we are really reflecting our weakness and criticism.  As the saying goes, “It takes one to know one.”  

If we learn to love all of us, accept all of us – the good, bad, and the ugly – as a whole, we would more willing to sprinkle some grace on others as they have undone to us.