Self-Talk is Important

All of us engage in mental self-talk all the time. A lot of it is negative.

If you start to catch the negative put downs you make, and start substituting more positive ones, you can make a difference over time.

Note: I used to get frustrated whenever self-help books asked me to do things like monitoring thoughts, because there are so many of them, you miss most of them. The thing I have found, however, is that you do not have to catch them all. In fact, if you just catch and correct 1% of the put downs you make unconsciously, you will see improvement over time, and you will naturally start to correct more.

For example, if you say something like, "I just cannot seem to get this right," you can choose to correct yourself immediately with, "I have not understood this in the past, but today I am beginning to see it clearly; and I will get it right from here forward."

You might find yourself saying something like, "That was really stupid. I cannot believe I just did that." If so, you can choose to say immediately, "Self, please forgive me for putting you down. I really am an intelligent person, and I am taking control of my thoughts and actions more every day."

If you find yourself calling yourself something like "loser," you can choose to immediately self-correct with, "I am a winner. I am a person of excellence."