Inspired by Sandy C. Newbigging and Eckhart Tolle

Use the healthy emotion of anger in your heart
to create a healthy boundary around your body
and around your space* 
                          *the proprioceptive area around your body 
                            within which your animal senses
                            can feel what is going on 
                            to about an arm's length in all directions around you.
Claiming your space on this Earth,
Giving you a sense of clear spaciousness
in which you have room to "be".

                                                                  Inspired by Karla McLaren "The Language of Emotions"

When you notice yourself feeling squashed, low in energy, or "stuck"
try becoming aware of all the "shoulds" in your head
that may be weighing you down,
zapping your va va voom,
or unconsciously criticising you for being wrong,
for not doing these "shoulds" in the past, present or future.

Write I SHOULD... at the top of a piece of paper,
finish the sentence in as many ways as you can.
Then change each sentence from starting with I should
to "If I really wanted to, I could..."

You might just discover why you haven't done some of these "should":

Maybe you don't want to.
Maybe someone else said you should, but actually you don't agree.
Maybe it's a crazily unrealistic and unachievable expectation.
Maybe it's not actually all that important.
Maybe you don't even need to.

As you give yourself the freedom to connect with your heart over your head
by saying "If I really wanted to, I could",
you might discover that you can drop one
or many things off your inner "Should" list
with a sense of relief
and a resurgence in energy for the things you actually want to do!

                                                                       Inspired by Louise L. Hay, You Can Heal Your Life, pages 15 to 17

For support in becoming free of your inner "Shoulds"
                                        and connecting more with your heart's desires:

Next time you catch yourself berating yourself, criticising yourself or telling yourself off,
rather than believing this voice of the "inner critic" and feeling crap inside,
or perhaps trying to fight against it by pushing it away,
or trying hard to consciously love yourself despite its harping on at you,
Instead: consciously work on loving the one inside you who is criticising!

Say to that part of yourself that is criticising you: 
"Ah honey, I know you wanted me to do better, I know you're disappointed sweetie, I know you want me always to do a perfect job, but it's ok, I love you! And I appreciate you for wanting the best for me."

As you practice this over time,
gradually you will find,
your Inner Critic is actually just
another face of your little Inner Child,
the one who is young and vulnerable inside you,
who worries about what other people think,
who is actually just crying out for love and appreciation
and thinks it needs you to behave perfectly
to be worthy of that love.

When you can give that nurturing love and appreciation to your Inner Critic,
you discover the little Inner Child behind it
hungry for love.

And wondrously, your own love is enough!

                                                                                                   Inspired by Matt Kahn, TrueDivineNature.com