At the Women-in-Tech meetup, Divya Kinni gave a talk on how the stories we tell ourselves affect our behavior and how we are treated.
Right before I scribe, that is create a visual representation of a conversation in front of a group in real time, I am usually very nervous. It feels a lot like how you would feel before giving a speech to a group. My inner critic can be loud and cruel at these times.
However, once the meeting or presentation starts my inner critic becomes silent. My focus is entirely on what is being said and how to translate that to paper. With deep listening, I am completely grounded in the moment, paying attention to not only the speaker but to the audience reactions as well.
Once the event is over, my inner critic returns to tell me how what I did can be improved. The inner critic can also say some very mean unhelpful things, which is why I'm glad for Divya's suggestions on how to self sooth using gibberish: Ground, Breathe, and Reset.