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Hack Yourself: Exorcise the Demon

Hack Yourself” is a short essay packed with inspiring thoughts on change, self-image, and the ranges of possibility that you permit yourself. Too many great bits to quote ‘em all, but I found this part especially illuminating:

Find the demon.

Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s the little voice in the back of your head that’s always whispering, “You can’t.” You know the demon. You may think you hate the demon, but you don’t. You love it. You let it own you. You do everything it says. Everytime there’s something you want, you consult the demon first, to see if it will say, “You can’t have that.”

What you don’t realize is that your demon doesn’t know anything. It’s an idiot. It’s nothing but a parrot, repeating back to you anything negative that it’s ever heard, anything that makes you hurt, makes you squirm. If a teacher once told you “You’ll never accomplish anything,” it was listening; it hoards words like that and repeats them back to you to watch you jump. It doesn’t know what it’s saying. It doesn’t care.

Exorcise yourself.

Ambar's picture

Sounds to me like _Taming...

Sounds to me like Taming Your Gremlin by Rick Carson (I have the 1983 edition, haven't seen the revised one), which offers simple practical methods for performing the exorcism.

 
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