Elizabeth Pfeiffer YES Edie! Our subconscious wears masks in order to perpetrate the illusion of what’s holding us back… otherwise, why would we give our power to something that looks so silly and Innocuous? ?

Susan Conrad GuiherI have a “Gremlin playground” at my house for my clients’ Gremlins- we have a bunch of these guys looking just like this running around.  They are quite cute once you have let them go out and play and you don’t let them hold you back anymore.”

Edie Weinstein oohhh, can my gremlin come over and play too? ?

Now, this may seem silly and rather childish, but consider how much time you invest each day in being hyper-critical of yourself when in no way would you ever be as harsh with anyone else. I can tell you that I catch myself getting engaged in this practice multiple times in a 24 hour period with a running commentary on everything from how tired I look (5-7 hours of a sleep a night will do that), to wanting to lose more weight, to questioning why I’m not ‘farther along’ in a few key areas in my life, to “You should have left earlier to get where you need to go.”, to “Oops you forgot to go the post office and mail out the package to your sister”, to “There’s still a pile of laundry in your room to be folded and put away.”, to “How are going to get everything on your ‘to do’ list accomplished?”…ad nauseum….

I would love to imagine my gremlin in all her glory, being transmuted from a sneering, snarling, superior, arms folded across her chest, eyes narrowed visage to a  fuzzy, goofy, quite playful, loopy being who is simply afraid of looking silly. Really, what has she got to lose, except the expectation that she be any particular way?

Years ago, at just the right time a book ‘found me’, written by Rick Carson, called Taming Your Gremlin, and it overflowed with familiar concepts that had me thinking that he wrote it just for me. I would bet that you would recognize aspects of yourself in it as well.

In tribute to this particular gremlin, I give you a version of what my own critter would do in the playground. I invite you and your gremlins to dance and sing along.