The Constable

I’ve thought of a new angle for myself on the Critic / Coach stuff. I’ve thought and written before a bit about the Inner Critic, and Grips for the Critic / Coach coin (things to do, ways to get a handle on it).

I was thinking about openness and curiosity, then applied it a bit to the Critic / Coach coin. Previously I’ve thought about the Critic and the Coach being two sides of the same coin, with the edge of the coin being the Compassionate Observer. I struggle with self-compassion, so I was looking for the first baby step towards the Compassionate Observer. If I can’t be compassionate, can I be disinterested or objective or factual? If I can’t take a positive interpretation, can I at least not add a negative interpretation?

The Constable is a detective. An investigator. They don't know what's happened, or is happening. They're interested in the bare facts first, before they hear anyone's story.

I’m going to explore this Constable angle a bit more. This character framing is influenced by Internal Family Systems. I have dug into IFS a little, but intend to come back to it some more.

An excellent question that the Constable might ask, short-circuiting the Critic:

What would be good enough? Be specific.

Talk amongst yourselves

Something that came to mind after reading “Laugh in the face of standards” on The Imperfectionist, that I don’t think I’ve thought about before in much detail, is how the various hats (or “parts” in IFS language) talk to each other. It’s not just that The Constable is another way of thinking about these things, but that The Constable can say “Oi!” to the Critic.

I’m considering writing up another hat / part: The Comedian. That one will have a lot to say to the other parts! 😅

Added 2024-03-12, last updated 2024-09-23.