A common concern brought to light in therapy is the tendency for clients to be too hard on themselves, to be too rigid with their expectations, or to fall prey to all or nothing thinking. These thoughts might sound like “It’s not good enough”, “This is not how I pictured it”, “If I don’t get an A, then I might as well fail”, or “That person is so good at it, I must be awful”.  As a therapist, I often find myself trying to help my clients be kind to themselves rather than bullying themselves into performance. We try to find the line between being self-motivated and self-critical.   These common…