Hindsight here and now.

I came across an old recording recently of a project I did 13 years ago.

Before I hit play I had a vivid memory of how I felt when I made the recording. (It wasn’t a good memory.)

I remembered I had a persistent voice telling me all the ways in which it was NOT good enough. I was prepared to hate it.

Listening to it 13 years later I was shocked. I could hear the beautiful parts to my performance. I could appreciate the nuance, the skill, and the musicianship.

I was able to listen with a different set of ears. I felt compassion for myself. I felt love. And then I asked myself, “Why couldn’t I hear those things back then?”

As musicians we are trained to zero in on what is “wrong”, what needs to be fixed.

It’s a mindset that without supervision can easily go to the dark side. The judgy voice takes over and highjacks the experience completely.

Thus, “it’s all bad” dominates the narrative.

It’s a very convincing narrative, because it’s under the guise of self improvement.

Listening to it with present day ears showed me how wrong that voice was. It was false. It hadn't told the whole story.

I’ve realized how that voice cannot be trusted. It cannot.

That’s the voice that keeps us from being fully ourselves. It keeps us small. It pushes us forward, but in a way that requires you to play it safe and ultimately holds us from our true potential.

Learning how to improve as a musician with discernment rather than judging is about seeing and hearing the full picture.

It requires love and deep compassion. It requires action from a positive, loving place rather than a negative one.

It’s the same way when we look in the mirror. We zero in on the flaws. And then years later we see a picture and think, “Damn, I looked good! What was wrong with me?”

What if we could bring that to right now. What if we could see and hear the REAL truth of who we are. Present day. This moment. Not years later.

What if we could grow and evolve without beating ourselves up?

I heard an analogy recently from Dr. Becky Kennedy of imagining all the voices in your head sitting around a table, like at a board meeting.

These voices all want to be heard. The wisest, most centered, most loving part of yourself is at the head and runs the meeting.

You hear what the voices have to say because everyone gets to be heard and….well, frankly, when we try to ignore the voices, they get louder.

So we listen, we consider and thank them for their service with love and compassion, AND we don’t let them highjack the meeting.

Your inner CEO is a badass who sees the big picture and keeps love and compassion at the root of it all.

Don’t forget to celebrate your greatness in your quest for self improvement. It’s the real truth.

I've created a FREE guide to help you keep that Inner Critic in check. GRAB IT HERE.

Can you relate? Send me message on instagram or through my contact page! I'd love to hear from you!