Everyone has their own inner critic committee – the group that holds wild parties in your head, starts food fights and generally tries to unseat your serenity and centeredness.

Here’s my cast of characters, who may have made guest appearances in your head as well:

The Judge – The leader of this band of critics, she revels in pointing out my latest wrinkle (literal or figurative), flaw or faux-pas. Her favorite words are should and shouldn’t, and she’s quick to cite case-law (aka past transgressions) as irrefutable evidence of unworthiness.

The Skeptic – Always quick to dose my dreams with doubt: “Are you sure you can do that?” “You’ve never done that before.” “You’re not qualified.”

The Perfectionist – A study in two extremes – either inaction (“You hadn’t better try this because you won’t be good at it”) or perpetual action (“Just a little more tweaking and it will be done. Oh wait, here’s another spot you missed.”). Both are aimed at acquiring external approval.

The Drama Queen — Always ready to give an Oscar-award winning performance on making Mt. Fuji out of a speed bump.

The Salesman – A pushy dude who’s quick to shove me into acting on whatever fearful thought pops up. “If you don’t act NOW, the price will triple tomorrow.”

The Jackhammer – He just loves noise and making negative thoughts fly around like chunks of cement and rebar. When he and the flying monkeys get together, well, it’s just nasty.

So what do you do when they decide to hold an impromptu meeting or food fight? The first thought that comes to mind is to bind and gag them, heave them into a really dark part of your psyche, and pretend they’re not there.

Unfortunately, they’ll find a way to escape. It may not be tomorrow, or next week. But one day, when you’re puttering around peacefully, they’ll hold a jailbreak. And like any negative thought, they will have grown stronger in the darkness of denial.

New York Times best-selling author Pam Grout says a negative thought is “temporary until you decide to invite it in for martinis and offer to make up the guest bedroom.”

So today, I try to listen to the committee’s input (up to a point, but not including martinis and the guest room). And I look for the lesson. If the Perfectionist has me running in circles, I need to become aware and remind myself that I’m perfectly enough just as I am. If the Drama Queen rants about the sky falling, I can remember to accept a situation for what it is – not more or less. If the Skeptic beleaguers me about not being qualified to write a blog, I can remind her that because I am the only Me on the planet, no one else has the exact same perspective and experiences.

Now I’m off to a meeting of the Fan Club Committee. They’re a lot more fun.