How do you deal with criticism?

I have found that I deal with it much differently than I used to.  It used to be, that when someone confronted me, called me out on something or was critical, I automatically discredited them. I knew that they were wrong, and I was a little angry about it.  I would think things like, "he doesn’t know what he’s talking about", "he’s totally off", "that jerk".  The next reaction was usually contemplation, "maybe he’s right" and then sadness, as I realized the truth to the critic’s words. The end result was always an attempt to rectify the situation and do better.

In my current life when someone makes a criticism, or tries to correct me, I no longer assume their incorrectness.  In fact, more often than not I quickly credit them with being accurate in their assessment.  I know within minutes that they are right. This is followed by some serious sadness and contemplation linked closely with feelings of guilt and failure.  "Oh my gosh, why did I do that?, people must think I am so awful…"  Occasionally, this is followed by some anger, "she doesn’t see the whole picture, it’s not exactly how she perceives it," etc…  Again, I proceed to do to change my behavior in a positive way.

I don’t know really know which way of dealing is better.  I used to get over it much quicker, you see.  Thinking, "You’re wrong, okay you’re right, moving on" is much less time consuming than,  "You’re right, I understand, I am a horrible person, sob, sob, sobby sob, sob, okay maybe I am not horrible but I am kind of….proceeding with caution." 

I mean, really, I would like to not be criticized at all– as in I would like to not have any flaws–not that I want people to remain silent.  But really if no one loved me enough to remind me to be more, than I would always stay the same.  I wouldn’t grow, I wouldn’t learn anything and life would be kind of stagnant. 

And yet, it seems to be the same things that keep coming back to me.  So maybe I am not learning anything.  And maybe that is why I keep taking it so personally– "I’m not better at that yet? Seriously? I am a failure." 

This post seems really depressing to me, now that it is all typed up.  Is it?

Anyway… How do YOU deal with critcism?