If You Hear Negative Voices in Your Head, Remember This

BY SOFO ARCHON

Last night, my partner and I decided to take a short walk around our neighborhood. At one point, we reached a square filled with children and decided to sit for a while, watching them play all around us.

After a while, we noticed a little girl—no older than six—trying to climb a short ladder right next to us. With great effort, she eventually reached the top. She beamed with pride at her achievement, radiating joy—until she suddenly heard an old woman yelling at her: “So what are you trying to show us now? There’s no need to brag. You’ve achieved nothing; others have climbed much higher than you.” Instantly, the girl’s wide smile vanished. She looked disappointed and hurt.

To our amazement, that woman was the girl’s grandmother. Soon after, she got up from the bench where she had been sitting, told the girl she was leaving, turned her back, and walked away without a second thought. The girl looked distressed. She quickly climbed down the ladder and ran after her grandmother, crying.

I then thought about how traumatic that experience must have been for the little girl. Children are incredibly sensitive and absorb everything from their environment like sponges, so the words they hear can deeply affect their psyche. These words often stay with them for years, sometimes causing tremendous suffering well into adulthood—or even until their final moments.

When we were children, we were all, at times, hurt by words thrown at us. Now, as adults, we often hear voices in our heads that were implanted by others—parents, relatives, friends, teachers—yet we mistake them for our own. Voices that tell us we are inadequate, unimportant, unworthy of love—or even of life itself.

Those negative voices keep repeating themselves so often that they can program us into believing what they say is true. If you’re hearing such voices yourself, let me tell you this: what they’re saying is utter nonsense. You—just like every other person in the world—are a uniquely beautiful, intelligent, and inherently loving being. Yet your beauty, intelligence, and love may have been suppressed for so long that it can feel as if they don’t even exist.

If you feel inadequate, trust me—I’ve been there. And I know it hurts. But I also know there’s a way out. How? My goal isn’t to turn this into yet another self-help article, but I will say this: simple practices such as meditating, taking care of your emotional needs, accepting and expressing your feelings, pursuing your genuine interests, and forming loving relationships can do wonders in helping you silence the negative voices in your head and rediscover inner peace.

My aim here is simply to remind you that you are enough as you are, regardless of what others have made you believe. I want to remind you that your presence enriches the world and that you have tremendously important gifts to offer.

Next time those negative voices arise in your head, don’t be fooled—they are lying to you, over and over. Instead, observe them without attachment, notice where they come from, and let them go, one by one. They are merely illusions fueled by your attention, and the only way to break free is to stop feeding them.