How to Quiet Your Inner Critic: Understanding Thought Loops and Self-Awareness

May 13, 2025

We all have that voice.

The one that whispers (or sometimes yells),
“Are you sure you’re good enough for this?”
“Everyone’s probably judging you right now.”
“Why can’t you just get it together?”

That voice? It’s not the truth. It’s not your future. It’s not your higher self.
It’s just… old programming.

And the wild part? It was never meant to hurt you. It's actually meant to protect you...but it IS hurting you too. (I know a lot of back and forth there, but it's true!)

Look, if I listened to that voice, I wouldn't have built this beautiful brand and had the opportunity to share these thoughts with you. Sometimes you need to ignore that old wiring in your mind in order to grow.

🧠 Where That Voice Comes From (Science Time)

Your brain has a built-in default mode called, fittingly, the Default Mode Network (DMN). It kicks on when you’re not actively focused on something—like when you're driving on autopilot, scrolling before bed, or spiraling over that awkward thing you said in 2017.

The DMN is tied to self-referential thinking—meaning, it loops thoughts about you. And if you’ve had past experiences where you felt unsafe, judged, or not enough (hello, most of us), that network gets wired to expect more of that. Over time, this creates a strong identity loop that sounds like inner criticism. It becomes the mental wallpaper of your life.

But here’s the catch: just because it’s familiar, doesn’t mean it’s true.

🌿 Your Thoughts Shape Reality—But Awareness Comes First

If your thoughts are the soil your life grows from, you better believe they matter. But before you can plant new ones, you’ve got to take a good look at what’s already been growing in there.

You might be walking around with beliefs like:

“I’m not cut out for this.”
“It always falls apart.”
“I’m too old to start over.”

But are those thoughts actual facts... or just weeds?

This is where awareness becomes your secret weapon.

Friend: You can’t shift what you don’t see.

And most of us don’t even realize when we’re knee-deep in our own mental overgrowth. I call it “getting stuck in the weeds.”

You think it’s reality—but really, it’s just a patch of old thoughts you’ve been circling. The key is recognizing when you're in the weeds so you can step above them, breathe, and get a wider view.

💡 How to Gently Redirect the Inner Critic

This isn’t about silencing that voice through force. It’s about retraining it. You built those thought loops through repetition—so guess what? You can build new ones the exact same way.

Here’s how:

Name It – “That’s my inner critic talking. Not the truth.”
Zoom Out – Ask: “What else might be true here?”
Reframe with Intention – Instead of “I’m terrible at this,” try “I’m learning. I’m growing.”
Pause the Loop – Go for a walk, change your environment, breathe deeply—physically shift your state.
Build a New Default – Through practices like journaling, mindfulness, and even speaking kindly to yourself out loud (yes, seriously), you rewire what your brain expects.

🌸 You Are Not Your Thoughts

Let me remind you of something simple but huge:
You are not your thoughts.
You are the thinker.
You are the observer.
And that voice in your head? It doesn’t get to be in charge just because it’s loud.

You get to decide how you talk to yourself. You get to pull yourself out of the weeds and stand on your own clear, grounded truth. The more you practice that, the easier it gets. And the quieter that critic becomes.

Because when you start living from awareness instead of autopilot, something beautiful happens:
You stop just surviving in your mind, and you start shaping it—like the intentional, evolving human you are.

'til the next one, be well.

BrookeLynn