Mind chatter

I'd like to write about mind chatter. My mind is chattering so loud right now that I forgot what I wanted to write about. Being aware of the messages I was giving myself about not remembering what I wanted to write about allowed me to remember what I wanted to write about. When we bring mindfulness to our inner judge it takes the edge off of the criticism.So my inner judge can say," this is boring. Noone wants to hear what you are writing about. Noone reads this anyway." Instead of buying what the voice is saying and spinning into a story about how I should do something different,
I listen. When I listen, it pauses. When I bring the witness to the inner judge and stop trying to get it to shut up or argue with it, there is a space created. As I listen without an agenda, it runs out of steam. Eventually it runs out of steam. sometimes that takes longer than others. I can chose to make myself wrong about that or accept my pacing as it is. Lately, when I recognize my inner critic telling me I am doing it wrong, I say, "Thank you for sharing. " I used to say that line sarcastically and lately I have begun to feel a genuine gratitude for the opportunity to listen and be mindful. We need awareness of the ego to disidentify from the ego. My doing it wrong voice is really an opportunity to develop the inner witness.
When I was on my meditation retreat, I was hiking up the side of a hill. I realized that I hadn't been aware of my, "You are doing it wrong voice", all morning. I had the thought, "I wonder if I can handle being this happy or if something will happen. The next step I took my foot slipped and I lost my balance and fell and tumbled backward until I was stopped by hitting my head on a tree. I was banged up and sore and shook up. It was scary to be alone . After I figured out I was going to be OK, I felt some amusement at what had happened. I was aware in a very concrete way how challenging it is for me to be happy. The awareness of releasing my focus on listening to my inner critic was very uncomfortable. It's almost as if I don't know who I am when I'm not identifying what I am doing wrong. Gay Hendricks has written a book called, Upper Limits. I haven't read it yet. I've only read a discussion of the content. He is writing about how hard it is for us to allow ourselves to feel really good and how creative we about getting in our own way. So the first step is to listen to the chatter of our mind undefensively. Undefensively means listening without denying arguing or folding. Are there any patterns about what it is chattering about? Is there a core belief or statement that is a theme? I notice that the opposite of doing it wrong is not doing it right. That is only the other part of the right/wrong duality. Using "doing it wrong to let myself know I am focused on my inner critic, allows me to use the message to bring myself back to my center. Being present in my center, doing it wrong, is an inner criticism, to be noticed and witnessed. Ah so, self-judgement, "Thank you for sharing". I hear you. I am here listening. The witness watches and learns. She just smiles , rubs her chin and feels curious.
What do you notice about your inner mind chatter? If you notice any patterns you can write them down and then when you hear the patterns you can label them without judging yourself for judging? Can you begin to activate or continue to allow your witness to undefensively listen?