Understanding Self Talk

Your inner voice can make a huge difference in your happiness, success, and productivity. You’ve heard the old saying that you can easily talk to yourself, but when you begin to answer yourself, there’s a problem. That’s far from the truth. Listening to your talk and then providing answers can be very useful to your well-being.

You may get a clue that you’re self-talking if you’re experiencing a wave of negative behavior and feel depressed or that you’re not progressing in your personal or business life. You may also begin to think that everyone is against you and that you have no chance of getting ahead.

Tuning in to your self-talk can help you analyze it and then you can begin to correct the negative talks you’re giving yourself. All it involves is periodically pausing and asking yourself, “What am I telling myself at this minute?” This is especially helpful if you do it when you’re anxious or unhappy about something.

After you understand a bit of what and how you’re bombarding yourself with negative thoughts you can begin to anticipate what you might say to yourself during certain situations and “rewrite” the dialog. If the dialog doesn’t quite go the way you planned it in your mind, you can change the dialog as you go.

As long as you understand that you’re telling yourself certain things (true or not) that might change the outcome of a situation, you can adjust your self-talk to turn a very difficult situation into one where you’re successful.

The way you use your inner voice makes a difference in whether your life is filled with positive happenings or negative ones. If you’re feeling depressed or feel that your self-confidence is low, it’s time to listen to what you’re telling yourself. You may immediately see what you’re doing or you may need to write down some of these thoughts and analyze them later.

Also, think of how others may see you and hear you when you’re going through the negative self-talk. You may be manifesting your negativity through your dealings with others and you need to know that it will change others’ perspectives of you. It will change your perspective of yourself.

For example, if you think you can’t leave an abusive relationship because you’d be alone and without help, you’ll know that you’re telling yourself negative thoughts about it and will likely continue in that relationship.

But, if you change your self-talk so that you’re telling yourself that even though you’re feeling anxious about leaving a relationship, you can begin now to find ways to take care of yourself — you’re changing those negative self-conversations to positive ones. That’s when you’ll begin to be successful in carrying out your real desires.

Don’t forget to drink from the fountain of youth, YOUR MIND!

B Bop