Negative Self Talk

 

Have you ever taken the time to pay attention to how you talk to yourself? Is it negative or positive?

As we go through the day, we have an internal dialogue that goes on in our head regarding our thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions about ourselves and our experiences. This is often referred to as self talk.

Self talk can be positive and/or negative. For example, “I should prepare for tomorrow’s meeting,” is positive self talk. For some of us, though, there is a regular negative dialogue running through our heads. It can be emotionally abusive (possibly as a result of abuse while we were growing up) and self defeating. It drags us down, increases our anxiety, and negatively impacts our mood and self esteem. Therefore, it is important that we keep an eye on how we talk to ourselves.

An article for the Mayo Clinic lists several common forms of negative self talk and includes examples. By recognizing what negative self talk actually is and identifying when we talk to ourselves in this way is the first step toward challenging these thoughts (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950?pg=2).

What are other ways we can challenge our negative inner dialogue? Well, first, I’ll provide a basic and simple way to do so. First, you talk to yourself as you would a dear friend. Imagine that your closest, and dearest friend is sitting in front of you. What would you do or say if he/she had those same thoughts. What would you tell them? How would you positively speak with them?

Besides the Mayo Clinic article, there are two other articles which discuss negative self talk and how to challenge our negative thinking.

(1) http://psychcentral.com/lib/challenging-negative-self-talk/

(2) http://www.webmd.com/balance/express-yourself-13/negative-self-talk?page=2

I hope you find this blog post helpful. Please share your thoughts here. If you would prefer to do so privately, you can email me at mendingandthriving@gmail.com.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend! See you again on Monday! Susan