Criticism

• “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how- the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” Abraham Lincoln, Seven MiraclesThat Saved America, 178
• “Both criticizing yourself and criticizing others are highly addictive and very popular ways of busting up the flow of positive energy.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)- Page 77
• “My assignment to you: become a keen observer of critical statements that come out of your mouth or fly through your mind. Begin to sort them into two piles: Pile One contains all the criticisms about real things you plan to do something about (“Hey, you’re standing on my toe. Get off!”); Pile Two contains all the others. I predict you’ll make the humbling but liberating discovery, as I did, that Pile Two towers over the paltry stack in Pile One.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)- Page 79
• “Just notice the voices and feel the fears. That’s all you need to do with them. You don’t need to rid yourself of them. Where would they go, anyway? All you need to do is acknowledge them, wave to them, let them know you’re aware of them. Then get busy learning to live in your Zone of Genius.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks)- Page 119
• “Keep your mind positive by accepting complete responsibility for yourself and for everything that happens to you. Refuse to criticize others, complain, or blame others for anything. Resolve to make progress rather than excuses. Keep your thoughts and your energy focused forward, on what you can do right now to improve your life, and let the rest go.” Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy, Page 88
• “When things are going well, or when you’re feeling particularly good, you can always bring yourself down by manufacturing a stream of worry thoughts. Once you’ve brought yourself down by worrying, it’s very tempting to inflict those worrying thoughts on others. If we’re in the grip of worrying while someone around us isn’t, we seem to have an almost uncontrollable urge to criticize that person until he or she jumps into the stream of negativity with us.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 66
• “I gave him the assignment of going cold turkey with criticism and blame. I asked him to call a complete halt to criticize his wife about money. To engage his competitive powers, I told him I highly doubted he could stop criticizing his wife about money for even one day. Jutting his jaw defiantly, he took up the challenge. When he and his wife came in for their next session, they both looked about ten years younger. They had even taken his assignment to a higher level, both of them deciding to eliminate criticism in general from their relationship. He told me that they had spent a delightful week “celebrating what we have rather than carping about what we don’t have.”” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 68
• “Criticism and blame are addictions. They are costly addictions because they are the number-one destroyer of intimacy in close relationships.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 76
• “Both criticizing yourself and criticizing others are highly addictive and very popular ways of busting up the flow of positive energy.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 77
• “My assignment to you: become a keen observer of critical statements that come out of your mouth or fly through your mind. Begin to sort them into two piles: Pile One contains all the criticisms about real things you plan to do something about (“Hey, you’re standing on my toe. Get off!”); Pile Two contains all the others. I predict you’ll make the humbling but liberating discovery, as I did, that Pile Two towers over the paltry stack in Pile One.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 79
• “These specific actions will keep you on track and on the fast track to living in your Zone of Genius. Make a commitment to keeping an attitude of wonder and play while learning about your Upper Limit behaviors. Say this sentence in your mind as often as you like. It expresses the attitude I’d like you to embody: I commit to discovering my Upper Limit behaviors, and to have a good time while I’m learning about them. You can learn a lot more with a spirit of wonder and enjoyment than you can with an attitude of criticism. Make a list of your Upper Limit behaviors. Here are some of the most common ones: Worrying Blame and criticism Getting sick or hurt Squabbling Hiding significant feelings Not keeping agreements Not speaking significant truths to the relevant people. (If you’re mad at John, he’s the relevant person to talk to. It doesn’t help to tell Fred that you’re mad at John.) Deflecting. (Brushing off compliments is a good example of deflecting) When you notice yourself doing one of the things on your Upper Limit list, such as worrying, or failing to communicate some truth, shift your attention to the real issue: expanding your capacity for abundance, love, and success. Consciously let yourself make more room in your awareness for abundance, love, and success. Use the resources of your whole being, not just your mind. For example, feel more love in your chest and heart area. Savor the body feeling, as well as the mental satisfaction, of success and abundance. Embrace a new story that tells about your adventures in your Zone of Genius. Find new mythology or makeup one of your own, that shows you enjoying your life in the full radiance of your expressed potential.” The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level (Gay Hendricks) Page 111
• “I Find That Resentment, Criticism, Guilt, and Fear Cause More Problems Than Anything Else. These four things cause the major problems in our bodies and in our lives. These feelings come from blaming others and not taking responsibility for our own experiences. You see, if we are all responsible for everything in our lives, then there is no one to blame.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay)-Page 6
• “Criticism as a permanent habit can often lead to arthritis in the body.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay)-Page 7
• “Loving the self, to me, begins with never ever criticizing ourselves for anything. Criticism locks us into the very pattern we are trying to change. Understanding and being gentle with ourselves helps us to move out of it. Remember, you have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 9
• “Let’s look at some of the ways we don’t love ourselves: We scold and criticize ourselves endlessly. We mistreat our bodies with food, alcohol, and drugs. We choose to believe we are unlovable. We are afraid to charge a decent price for our services. We create illnesses and pain in our bodies. We procrastinate on things that would benefit us. We live in chaos and disorder. We create debt and burdens. We attract lovers and mates who belittle us.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 17
• “loving the self begins with never, ever criticizing ourselves for anything.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 22
• “Would you really dig into yesterday’s garbage to make tonight’s meal? Do you dig into old mental garbage to create tomorrow’s experiences?”
• “Each one of us has a three-year-old child within us, and we often spend most of our time yelling at that kid in ourselves. Then we wonder why our lives don’t work.” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 28
• “If you had a friend who was always criticizing you, would you want to be around that person?” You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 28
• “Don’t delay your own prosperity by being resentful or jealous that someone else has more than you. Don’t criticize the way they choose to spend their money. It is none of your business. Each person is under the law of his or her own consciousness. Just take care of your own thoughts. Bless another’s good fortune, and know there is plenty for all.”  You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) Page 117
• “It’s important to let your true self shine and to share your true gifts with the world. The beauty that dwells in your mind and that comes from your unique perspective on life needs to be heard. You will suffer criticism. But their opinions don’t matter, because you have to be you. By being you, you will attract the right people into your life and repel the wrong people, so that soon you will be predominantly surrounded by those who love you for who you are.”   It Starts With You: The 3 Great Thoughts That Can Change Your Life By George Sourrys May 23, 2017, https://www.goalcast.com/2017/05/23/it-starts-with-you-the-3-great-thoughts-that-can-change-your-life/
• “Rather than being judgmental and critical of each other, may we have the pure love of Christ for our fellow travelers in this journey through life” Thomas S. Monsoon
• “Never accept criticism from someone you would not take advice from”  Jeff Van Gundy
• “Even harder to bear than criticism, oftentimes, is no word from our leader on the work to which we have been assigned. Little comments or notes, which are sincere and specific, are great boosters along the way.” Manual, Teachings of President of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 19, Leadership
• “I am not asking that all criticism be silent. Growth comes with correction. Strength comes with repentance. Wise is the man or woman who, committing mistakes pointed out by others, changes his or her course. I am not suggesting that our conversation be all honey. Clever expression that is sincere and honest is a skill to be sought and cultivated. What I am suggesting and asking is that we turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good in the land and times in which we live, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism. Let our faith replace our fears.” Manual, Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Gordon B Hinkley, Chapter 3, Cultivating an Attitude of Happiness and  a Spirit of Optimism
• May 17, 1995 – Wednesday – Quito, Ecuador… “We left from the Conference at 2:30pm to be at Franklin’s house.  I left with my head throbbing without being able to think good.  Franklin wasn’t there so I got pretty ticked & when we did see him I started questioning him like crazy.  Well, he took us in the house & started crying telling us that he is big time depressed, and if something else would happen, he said he might be gone.  Needless to say I felt horrible because I had just jumped down his throat.  He looked like a helpless child.  What bugged me most was that I didn’t follow the Spirit like I should have.  So I was thinking of that a lot, and re-evaluating myself.” – Clinton Brown Missionary Journal
• “President Gordon B. Hinckley’s mother, Ada Bitner Hinckley, often said that a happy attitude and smiling countenance could boost one over almost any misfortune and that every individual was responsible for his own happiness. His father, Bryant S. Hinckley, also had an inherently positive outlook. President Hinckley recalled, When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my father would say: Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve. Influenced by his parents’ counsel and example, young Gordon Hinckley learned to approach life with optimism and faith.” Manual, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, Chapter 3, Cultivating an Attitude of Happiness and a Spirit of  Optimism