It is tempting to think of your inner critic as an enemy that constantly lives within your own skin. In fact, because it is so tempting, the world is full of methods for standing up to your inner critic, fighting against your inner critic, ignoring your inner critic and negating your inner critic. Of course, these methods will never work. They will never work because the inner critic is not against you. It is powerfully for you. It is trying its very best to protect you. And unless you understand this, you will add to your own suffering, increase your self-hate and intensify the internal war within yourself.