Well, what if they're just mirroring our own inner critic - that endless dialogue running in our heads that likes to tell us we're not good enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not wealthy enough, not living right enough...blah, blah, blah?
Yes, sometimes the people in our lives show us the road back to ourselves and sometimes the way they do it isn't all warm and fuzzy. But to be frank, warm and fuzzy doesn't always work. There's nothing more motivating and self-realizing than a slap upside our apathetic egos (and yes alas, I say this from experience). I've been verbally smacked down more than I care to admit! But you see, all that pain, frustration and anger gets us moving again. It frees us from our own bullshit.
It is during these irksome encounters, that criticizers show us how to walk away from the things that are disingenuous to our personal path. They help us set boundaries, discover our strength, identify our power and delve deeper into the abyss of our soul to find our voice and the self-love that may have gotten displaced along the way.
As much as it's hard to fathom, these nitpickers are merely shoving us into our realness. Once we step out of the darkness and know ourselves - REALLY know ourselves - anything anyone has to say about us, and the way we live our lives, will no longer pack a punch. We'll simply no longer give a damn.
If i told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room would you trust it?~poetic justice