When stung by criticism, 

is it because the comments were unjustified or 

embarrassingly accurate? 

Criticism can hurt.

Unless helpfully offered, either in delivery or by the right person, it’s easy for us to feel offended or even under attack. If not a case of the person sharply censuring us in front of others, why might we feel so taken aback?

Perhaps the critique is unfair, in which case it’s not surprising we’re dismayed. After having taken the time and put forth the effort to complete a task correctly, here is someone claiming we did it incorrectly.

But what if the criticism is valid. If so, we may well act from embarrassment. Embarrassment over having done something badly and not known it. Or, aware what we did was poorly executed, we didn’t know how to fix the mistakes and didn’t ask for help. Or even worse, knowing there were mistakes, we didn’t bother to correct them.

Next time, instead of being hurt, view the critique as an opportunity to cultivate patience and diligence.