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Hi – I’m Andy Leigh – creator of The Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic approach to quietening negative and unhelpful thinking.

Here’s some useful stuff to get you going, including:

• The Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic approach and core message (you need to read this)
• Some excellent info about me (yeah…right…) and the site (read it if you want)
• The site disclaimer/terms and conditions – (this is important because by using this site you’re accepting these T&Cs – it’s not completely boring but some parts are)

The Core Message

When dealing with our negative thoughts – we take them much too seriously. We treat them with too much respect, and all too often we accept every negative message as if it’s uncontestably true.

Laugh Away your Inner Critic shows you how to stop negative, unhelpful and downright damaging thoughts from holding you back. It uses:

• Humour – to defuse the power and seriousness of negative thoughts
• Metaphor – as a tool to create an amusing and empowering image of your Horrible Inner Critic
• Recognition – of the Horrible Inner Critic’s sneaky methods and messages
• Tools – simple, powerful and often delightfully irreverent
• Neuroscience – yes, really!

Right at the very centre of the Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic approach is the tried and tested method of personifying the negative voice and separating ‘you’ from ‘it’. I’ll use the term ‘Horrible Inner Critic’ or its acronym ‘HIC’ to refer to our negative thoughts.

I want to say right here that if you have, or suspect you have, any mental disorders or challenges, please seek the appropriate help rather than use this site. See the Terms and conditions for more info.

With Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic I’m not claiming to have reinvented the wheel – the vast majority of what I’m writing about is already out there in various forms. What I am doing is adding my own spin to it, because the humorous, light approach to dealing with negative thinking actually works really well.

While the ‘laugh away’ approach is pretty much my own, including terms like Horrible Inner Critic and its acronym, HIC, you’ll find everything here is based on proven methods that are simple, straightforward and effective. Most of it is now also backed up by psychological and neuroscientific research. I may touch on that from time-to-time.

About Andy Leigh

I’m a personal and business coach with many years of experience under my belt and several thousand hours of one-to-one coaching. I love coaching people towards change and growth. Not surprisingly, most of my coaching sessions have laughter in there somewhere or other – but never at the expense of serious progress for my clients. If you have things you’d like to change then have a look at my coaching website.

The Cartoons

All the cartoons on the site are my own work. As you may have already realized, I’m learning as I go. At the beginning of this blogging journey I’m definitely in the learner zone when it comes to cartooning. I certainly haven’t developed my own drawing style just yet, and it takes me way, way too long to complete each drawing. Please respect my copyright and enjoy what I hope will be a growing ability to make my stylus go in the direction I want it too. I’m really looking forward to that.

The Book

Ah, yes… the book. Well, there isn’t one. Yet. The idea is that I’ll get to the point where I’ve written and drawn enough excellent stuff to pull it all together into an absolutely kick-ass book. Top publishers will be fighting each other to get their hands on the prize, and who can blame them? Not me, that’s for sure. I’m really looking forward to that too.

Disclaimer/Terms and Conditions

This is the disclaimer/terms and conditions for the Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic blog (LAYHIC). It’s here because:

1. I, Andrew Leigh, creator of said blog would like to avoid being in any kind of court, apart from maybe, a tennis court (I’m not too fussed about being in a tennis court either).
2. It’s important for you to be safe and only read the stuff on here if it’s suitable for you and your own personal circumstances. You or a medical professional will have to take responsibility for making that decision.

Right then. First off, please do not read this LAYHIC blog, and most definitely do not use any of the content within it if you do not accept these terms and conditions. USE OF THIS WEBSITE IMPLIES ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

Thank you.

Mental Health

I am a life coach, blogger and L-plate cartoonist; I am not a therapist and LAYHIC is not intended to be used as therapy of any kind. If you have or suspect you have any form of mental disorder, including anxiety disorders and depression please consult a qualified medical practitioner. Do not use the content of this blog.

The LAYHIC approach and content will often refer to our negative thinking as ‘negative voice’ and will discuss the metaphorical personification of that voice as a tool to better deal with negative thinking. Can I stress here that when I talk about ‘negative voice’ and its personification as a ‘Horrible Inner Critic’ (HIC) – I am not talking about anything associated with mental disorders such as schizophrenia or split personality – but the more common and everyday experience of negative thoughts that can get in the way of our being a more positive, productive and happy person.

Responsibility

Laugh Away Your Horrible Inner Critic aims to be informative and entertaining. Naturally, some people may wish to try some of the approaches and techniques described. However, it’s impossible for me to know how appropriate any technique or approach will be for any individual. Therefore, you must use your own judgement and accept responsibility for doing so.

Copyright Statement

It’s all mine I tell you… all mine!!!! (cue demonic laughter)

Perhaps I should clarify: unless otherwise stated and credited, the original content on this (LAYHIC) site is created by me, Andrew Leigh – including all text, cartoons, podcasts and videos. I am the legal copyright holder of all material on the LAYHIC website and this material cannot be reprinted, republished or used in any form without my written consent.

While I’m on this, I’d also like to point out my origination and copyright on the terms, ‘Horrible Inner Critic’ and its acronym, ‘HIC’.

Should I inadvertently violate someone else’s copyright please let me know and I’ll remove the offending material immediately.

British English not American English

If you note some odd spellings and unusual words it’s probably because I’m from Sheffield in England and you’re from somewhere with more sensible spelling. British English (which is what I was educated in) has not had any spelling reforms for a very long time and believe it or not, way back when we did tinker with our spellings, we often made things even more confusing (yes, really). For instance, by adding in silent letters. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s a ‘b’ in ‘debt’ now you know. Most British people love our old-hat spellings, so apologies to them for what follows. Just remember that apart from this, I am one of the good guys.

Here goes then. It’s very controversial for a Brit to say, but I’d love to see spelling reforms. As an ex teacher of English I just don’t see the arguments for having our language any more difficult than it needs to be. However, being British I do recognise that the UK’s current (and potential) leaders couldn’t organise the proverbial piss-up in a brewery – so on reflection it’s probably best to leave spelling reform for another century or two. What will probably happen is that American English will gradually and painfully prevail, at which point no-one in the UK will ever admit to having used anything else.

User Content

User Content means any contributions to the website from its users – for instance, comments, images, music, etc. LAYHIC reserves the right to edit or delete blog comments if deemed inappropriate, and to block comments from any user.

Inappropriate User Content

Inappropriate User content is stuff like but not limited to:

• Hate content such as racism, homophobia, intolerance
• Political viewpoints: I have my politics – you have yours – let’s keep them off this website please
• Trolling and abuse of other users – or me! Or the LAYHIC website
• Spam and advertising
• Sexual or pornographic material
• Content that violates the contractual rights of others, for instance copyright and intellectual property rights.
• Material that encourages illegal activity
• Content that seeks to persuade users to hurt themselves or others.

Users should only post their own original material, or post the material of others within the terms of ‘fair use’. Users must take responsibility for any of their contributions to the site that violates the contractual rights of others.

Ownership of User Contributed Content

Contributor’s own, original material (comments, images, videos etc) that is contributed to the LAYHIC site remains in the ownership of the user.

However, the user grants Andrew Leigh and LAYHIC the unconditional, perpetual and royalty-free right to use, reproduce and modify the user’s material for whatever purpose, including commercial purposes.

Privacy Statement

Good grief! How do you write this stuff without falling asleep?

I don’t do hate, but if I did, Spam would be somewhere on my hate list. I respect your privacy and absolutely and definitely will not pass on any of your details to outside companies. I hope that goes for any advertisers on the LAYHIC site too – but I am not responsible for any actions of advertisers on the site.

Reserve Rights

I reserve the right to modify and develop LAYHIC at any time, terminate the blog, and alter the terms of use.

Advertisers and Sponsors

As I write (June 2017) LAYHIC doesn’t actually have any advertisers or sponsors. But one day it will (sorry). This next bit is for when it happens.

I am not responsible for the actions of any advertisers, sponsors or affiliates on this site. You will need to take up any issues that may arise with the relevant company.

Please note also that no endorsement is implied, by myself or the LAYHIC web site, of advertising, sponsorship or affiliates – unless specifically stated otherwise.

Where I stand to gain from links to products, services or sites (affiliate links) I’ll do so openly by mentioning it in the post.

 

Phew – that’s about it. Nowhere near as hilarious as I’d imagined it. Well done for reading this far. Time for a cup of tea?

Last updated: June 2017