Persistent negative thoughts. Wow, can they feel tough to shift.

Even when we look confident negative thinking can be churning us up inside – stopping us achieving, blocking our happiness, often bringing stress, suspicion, jealousy and loss of self-worth.

Negative thoughts stop us from doing so much – from getting that job to asking for a date, from joining a gym or club to daring to reveal our true self. And the crazy thing is that we’re not talking about being ill here. ‘Normal’ (okay, so who really is ‘normal’ when you get down to it?), everyday people like me and you, who don’t need a therapist, can frequently have our heads dominated by all sorts of unhelpful, crappy thinking.

No wonder our thoughts can feel big and powerful and impossible to stop. But – and this is important – we can stop them. My Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic approach is one of many really pretty damned effective ways to do this. I hope it works brilliantly for you, but if it doesn’t, don’t stop looking because there’s so much now that can genuinely make a difference.

A word of caution: before we get started, you must read the start here page – particularly the disclaimer/terms and conditions and the bit that says that this approach and blog is not aimed at those of us whose negative thoughts are part of medical mental conditions like depression, anxiety disorders, or other illnesses. If in doubt seek professional help. Also please take on board that anything you might decide to use from this blog has to be your own responsibility. Use your own judgement – as I can’t know what’s right (or not) for you.

Hmm…. Got a bit serious there. Well actually, the Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic approach is serious in its aim – it’s just that its method is to employ humour, lightness, occasional frivolity and just plain silliness to baffle and defeat our negative thoughts – our Horrible Inner Critic.

Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic has at its core one simple premise – that when we take our negative thoughts too seriously we increase their hold on us. When we find a way of treating negative thoughts less seriously, we seriously disarm them of their power.

So that’s what we’re going to do. Laugh away your negative thoughts. Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic.