In order to change our negative beliefs we must first understand what we are telling ourselves and then tell ourselves the exact opposite. Change I am useless with technology to I am a wizz with technology, I learn quickly and easily. Just try it, play the game. Have fun.
From the moment we awake, all through our day, and until we fall asleep, self-talk is taking place in our mind. What we choose to tell ourselves can influence our emotions, our actions and overall wellbeing. Our self-talk can be both positive and negative. The first question we must ask is, What are you telling yourself?
First of all we need to identify our thoughts, beliefs and habits. We need to think about our thinking. What do we think and why do we think what we do?
What rules are we living by that are not even ours?
What limited ideas are we entertaining?
We need to examine closely our own thoughts. Then change them. In order to do so we must change our perspective and look at things from a different angle.
Start by listening to what you are telling yourself, and if you don’t like it, understand that you have the ability to change it.
You can tell yourself anything you want. So say some nice things, some lovely things and some excellent things. Tell yourself the exact opposite of what you have been telling yourself. I told myself for years I was useless with technology, particularly computers. Then I realised it was a barrier I had to smash to realise what I wanted. What do I want? That question we must answer. We must know what we want and not let our barriers and fears stop us.
what can I do to cultivate positve self talk?
1. Become aware of your self-talk – just realise what you are telling yourself.
2. Listen to what you are telling yourself – just listen.
3. Understand that you can change the dialogue – When you become aware of what you tell yourself you realise you can be telling yourself better and nicer things.
4. Challenge and silence the negative talk – tell yourself you can learn and grow, replace ‘can’t’ with ‘can’ or at least ‘try’.
5. Cultivate more positive self-talk – Acknowledge the negative thought and turn it around, use positive affirmations to rewire your thinking.
There are tools to help us along the way, including practising mindfulness, such as meditation and deep breathing. See my post on Fresh air. These practices can help us focus and become more aware of our self-talk, allowing us to gain insight into our thought patterns and learn to detach from any negative thinking.
Surrounding ourselves with positivity, daily affirmations, quotes, meditations, and tapping. Create a growth mindset, so maybe you can’t do it now, but you can take small steps and grow.
Our self-talk can hold us back in fear and doubt, or it can propel us towards the happiness and success we desire.
So I ask again, what are you telling yourself?
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