by Danna Faulds

Release the harsh and pointed voice.

It’s just a throwback to the past, and holds no truth about this moment.

Let go of self-judgment, the old, learned ways

of beating yourself up for each imagined inadequacy.

Allow the dialogue within the mind to grow friendlier, and quiet.

Shift out of inner criticism and life suddenly looks very different.

I can say this only because I make the choice a hundred times a day

to release the voice that refuses to acknowledge the real me.

What’s needed here isn’t more prodding toward perfection, but

intimacy – seeing clearly, and

embracing what I see.

Love, not judgment, sows the seeds of tranquility and change.