When someone criticises me
Yesterday i went to Newlands Forest in Cape Town, South Africa. To be quite truthful, I was looking for peace more than an image. Sitting down by the waterfall, as I listened to the sounds of nature the gentle flowing of the stream, it didn't take long for that sense of wellbeing to return. And I remembered that I had also set this task for our community - to go out and look for Light and Shadow. Because life's like that, it has both and we always need to return to nature to have its equilibrium return. https://www.facebook.com/groups/photocoachyou
How important is it that you receive
criticism for your images …
and by implication, your life?
What part in your progress does this play?
Well, let's look at the critic first.
There are three types of critic
The game player
The game player is the most toxic of all - and this person will normally have an agenda - and that agenda is to knock you off your perch so that they can puff up themselves at your expense. These dangerous people are looking for short-term gratification.
This type of critic ranges from the psychotic person to the person with a gripe and it is not worth giving them the time of day. There is usually an inbuilt anger that is easily discerned. Perhaps there is some truth in what they say, but in order to receive their truth, one has to stoop so low that one feels their grimy thoughts. Move on and ignore them. Don't give them the power of your response.
The ignorant
Then there is the critic who is clearly ignorant. They do not have the skills and they normally try to impart something they have recently learned. They do not know what they do not know.
This type needs a little wink of the eye, and self defence normally shows up your own wounded ego. You must discern how to respond, but do it with wisdom.
Look up! Always look up. Because you miss so much of what is going on around y0u if you don't .
The helper
Then there is the helper, the empath, who sincerely wants to reach out to you and offer wisdom. Tune your ears to this person and don't become defensive - that never helps anyway. And ask yourself the following questions…
The silhouettes of the trees were projected by the rising sun onto the wall of this old, disused water house.
QUESTIONS …
Is there any possible truth in what this person is saying about my work - and if there is, how can I change so that I can grow?
How helpful is this comment?
If I embrace what they are saying, will it deflect me from my current path so as to cause me to lose faith in myself?
Conclusion
At the end of the day, we need to see not so much the critic’s words rather the critic, and understand them first. Which category do they fall into? Sometimes, their words hold a degree of truth and then, like a bony fish, we can chew the flesh and spit out the bones.
