Critic Genealogy
We all have inner voices, such as an inner critic, who makes snide comments while sitting on our shoulder, and a creative inner voice - our personal cheerleader. In May 2016, we had a program on the genealogy of our critic and creative inner voices, to discover where those voices show up and what they say to us. The inner critic says things like: "That was dumb; why did you say that?" or "What were you thinking?" The creative voice says: "Way to go! You were brilliant!". Virginia Satir described this as a "parts party"! (parts of our personality). We made sock puppets to represent our critic and creative voice; herewith a picture of an inner critic. (notice the red skull for the mouth).
 Participants discussed how to use sock puppets with our coaching clients, to help them discover and uncover their inner voices. Creating puppets that are external to ourselves helps us see our thinking as "object", that is, it helps us make a shift from "subject" to "object", using Bob Kegan's language. When our inner voices are subject, we don't see them; we are fused with our voices. When they become object, they are more visible to us, making it possible to inquire into their use and effectiveness.
In addition, we made a connection to Shirzad Chamine's Saboteurs, which are our "invisible agents of self-sabotage". Once we understand how we sabotage ourselves, we can begin to master our minds and have greater choice in our reactions, to help us address our challenges with clarity and creativity.
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