Hey, friend -

A few weeks ago, my Inner Critic challenged me to a cage match.

Although I've gotten in a few good swings, that guy is tossing me around like John Cena versus... oh, who am I kidding? I don't know the first thing about professional wrestling.

What I'm trying to say is that my internal dialogue has been mean as hell lately. And if you're anything like every other person on the planet, I'm willing to bet you've had seasons like this, too.

When "not good enough" clangs like a fire alarm at the base of your skull.
When "not likable enough" tries to crack a rib.
When "not worthy enough" is a boulder in your belly.
When "not talented enough" turns your legs to jelly even as your feet bounce like pistons.

Today, I'm thiiiiiiiiis close to the escape hatch at the top of the cage. But my Critic is swinging by my bad leg, trying his damndest to pull me back down to the mat.

So, while I'm dangling here trying to shake that guy off, I'm doing this thing I learned from my dietitian...

Pep Talk #031: Send your thoughts through a DUI checkpoint.
We have about 60,000 thoughts a day.

All of those thoughts are thoroughly meaningless... until we assign meaning to them. And that's where we can get into trouble.

When we assign meaning to thoughts, we catch fEeLiNgS for them. Some thoughts are worthy of meaning and feelings. But a lot of them are complete trash.

The trick is to notice our thoughts and assign meaning to them—or not—on purpose.So imagine you have a DUI checkpoint in your mind. When a thought comes careening across the center line, stop it. Check its license and registration.

Then either let it go on or say, "Go home, thought. You're drunk."

If you think you're not good enough, likable enough, worthy enough, or talented enough, your thoughts are drunk, friend.

Send 'em packing,

Kelley