Kids are amazing! My son and daughter will engage in an endeavor or project with their sole focus on the dreamiest outcome. Recently they were determined to make their own Halloween decorations to frighten everyone who would walk by our house.

Along the way, they encountered obstacles. Things like, not having the right materials, not finding the most suitable colors, a black marker that dried up and lost its ink, and the list goes on. As I watched them, I saw them re-negotiate new solutions to obtain their outcome, and after a few hours, they were admiring their creations that were stuck into the yard with my sons KNEX kit, and generous amounts of tape.

At a quick glance the yard looked like it had trash strewn all over it, with the paper towel ghosts hanging from the tree and the cereal box tombstones. But then I saw it, and this is why I’m writing this blog today.

Our kids have not discovered the INNER CRITIC, but we have.

How many endeavors, dreams, or hopes have we silenced in our lives because our inner critic told us that we couldn’t do it. We heard a voice that said; “You’re not smart enough!”, “You don’t have enough money!”, “It will never work!”

Take a moment now and evaluate your life.

Are you working at your absolute best potential or at least working toward it? Or have you settled somewhere? Have listened to your inner critic? Have you been telling yourself that “Now is not the time.”

Think about it. Every time we DIDN’T start something was because we listened to fear, and ignored hope. Without much consideration a part of us was killed by what we thought was the voice of reason. Instead of finding an easier path or comfort, the result was more cynicism, and less hope than we’ve ever had. Unlike my kids, we will never celebrate the accomplishment of our inner artist, genius, or the expression of our best ideas, so long as we never start.

And people wonder why their life feels devoid of meaning and purpose–Its because we have squandered the tools that obtain such beauty and meaning.

Let’s not choose a clean yard! Let’s live in such a way that those dreams inside of us are expressed to every passerby. Fear will never satisfy us, and it kills the voice of possibility.

If we want it back, we have to act on our inspiration today. The critic resides where we delay.