No one likes to be criticised and no one wants to hear anything negative about themselves or their actions. Often harsh criticism is unjustified and you should not let it affect you, but friendly, constructive criticism can be very useful.

There are many situations in which an outsider perceives more than you as the person directly affected. Learn to distinguish between when someone wants to hurt you with negative criticism and when someone wants to help you improve. You shouldn't reject criticism as a matter of principle, as there is often something useful in it that you can use for yourself and learn from.

You can and should ignore harsh criticism that is specifically aimed at hurting you. If you want to criticise in order to give you the opportunity to improve, express your criticism tactfully. If you take unjustified criticism to heart, you will harm yourself and achieve nothing. Don't allow your critics to destroy your protective shell. If you learn to distinguish between constructive and harmful criticism, you can filter out the truths that you want to work on and reject the rest.

So if someone criticises you in a friendly way, listen to what they have to say and think about what part of it is justified.