Train Your Brain to Silence Your Inner Critic
Do You Feel Paralyzed by Your Inner Voice? Are You Afraid to Fail?
Often, people who struggle with anxiety or low self esteem are actually afraid to fail. Their inner critic rules the roost, telling them that they’ll never succeed or that they will look foolish in front of their peers. Is your inner voice your worst enemy?
Neuroscience Confirms That Training Your Brain Boosts Ability to Improvise
A 2008 study of the brains of musicians while engaging in jazz improvisation found that their brains “turned off” the centers of their mind that tend to give self-criticism and to stifle spontaneity, allowing them to “Let Go and Play” as we say in Play Theory. The same was found in a 2012 study of the brains of freestyle rappers. Key to this was that the musicians had learned how to silence those voices that would second-guess their choices and hinder creativity. How did they do this?
Dedicated Practice Builds Confidence and Willingness to Take Risks
One of the keys to these improvising musicians being able to silence the inner critic and be spontaneous is that they have practiced their craft over and over. They have taken the time to study and understand music and language, rhymes and chord progressions, meter and melodies. They even practice improvising. Then, when they are ready to perform, they can trust that what comes will be good, without overanalyzing and without doubting themselves.
Happiness Takes Practice!
One of the key skills we teach as a part of the Happiness Practice of Play Theory is to “Let Go and Play”. This involves intentionally releasing fears of failure and judgement and allowing yourself to be creative in the moment. It makes everything more fun! It also can be very difficult, especially if you are a careful or anxious person. That is why we practice this and our other Play Theory skills in every interaction at Take Note Troupe, and we practice through playing games, where the stakes are low and people can feel both comfortable and the right kind of uncomfortable at the same time. The more we practice, the better we get at Letting Go and Playing, which makes us better at being creative and having fun.
Come Practice Happiness With TNT and Learn to Silence the Inner Critic
Practice builds confidence. Practice reinforces those positive neural pathways. As you practice happiness at TNT and specifically the Let Go and Play principle, you’ll find that you can send that pesky critic in your brain to Time Out. Just like the musicians in the studies cited, as you quiet the critical voice and lean in to what you have practiced, amazing things will be the result.
Reach out to us today about bringing a workshop to your business, youth group, or classroom, or sign up for one of our classes! We would LOVE to practice happiness with you!
Neural Correlates of Lyrical Improvisation: An fMRI Study of Freestyle Rap by Siyuan Liu, Ho Ming Chow, Yisheng Xu, Michael G. Erkkinen, Katherine E. Swett, Michael W. Eagle, Daniel A. Rizik-Baer & Allen R. Braun
