aboutpersonalgrowth

Listen To Your Self-Talk

Can you hear your self-talk? Try again. Quiet your mind. Relax. Be Still.

If you pause, become aware and manage to catch it, you will hear. Listen to that inner voice. What is it telling you? What is it urging you to do?


Your self talk is what you are saying to yourself mentally. The inner talk is always out of your conscious awareness and spoken so low that you can't hear it. If you are aware, you will hear your own voice or someone else's.


The talks are either negative or positive and are also in the form of mental pictures. Most are negative statements voicing your fears. The talking going on inside determines your emotions moment to moment. When you talk to yourself, images appear on your mind. These pictures affect your mood, attitudes and decisions.


This is why you don't take action or decide to do what you outwardly say you would. You sabotage yourself because your inner talk and images are telling you why you shouldn't. Your mind tries to protect you from disappointments and making mistakes based on childhood memories or past experiences.


So you don't act upon your goals and dreams. You lose faith in yourself. Your self confidence plummets, your self esteem dwindles and you criticize yourself further. You affirm to yourself the image of a failure. If it's not interrupted or stopped, it's going to become your mantra.



"To listen to what's deep inside
It is the hardest thing
To let go from the heart what hides
You deserve to listen."
- Susan Herrick -



Changing Negative Self-Talk to Positive Self Talk


bullet2 Interrupt.

"Every waking moments we talk to ourselves about the things we experience. Our self-talk, the thoughts we communicate to ourselves, in turn control the way we feel and act." - John Lembo


You have to interrupt your self-talk. In order to do so, you have to be aware of them. Catch your intrapersonal communication. Stop in the middle of whatever you are doing at intervals and ask yourself questions like, "What am I thinking?" or "How am I feeling?"


And then ask yourself if the things you are saying are true? Tell yourself that it's not true anymore and that you are better than what you were thinking. Replace them with positive statements.



bullet2 Write down what you were thinking, hearing or seeing.

By writing down, it'll enable you to notice. You'll become aware of your feelings and experiences. You voice inside could be telling you that things are not worth doing.


You will also notice the language that you are using to describe your thoughts. Your words have the power to affect your life. With that knowledge, you can word them differently and change your internal dialog.



bullet2 Notice the patterns and find the triggers.

How do you talk to yourself and what do you say at different time of the day? When does it appear? What are your thoughts when you are in a different situation or with new people? Do you hear yourself being self critical when things do not seem to work out?


Find the triggers as soon as you notice a critical voice. Trace the root of it. You may uncover a belief attached to it. You may even identify the person who has conditioned and programmed your mind to accept the critical opinion.


Replace these with positive statements. Tell yourself that what happened before does not have to repeat and that from now on you are going to take a different action.



bullet2 Visualize.

Your self-talk and mental pictures have affected your self image. Change that mental picture. Visualize yourself as a confident person in different situations. Picture it clearly. See yourself in it. Repeat this exercise several times a day. When your mind keeps seeing this picture, it believes that it's true. This new image will replace the old programming.



bullet2 Learn to meditate.

Don't worry. You don't have to go through any weird procedure. What you need to do is put aside about 15 minutes alone each day.


Sit upright or lie down. Breathe deeply through your nose. If you are breathing right, you can feel your stomach rising. Let the air fill your lungs. Release your breath slowly through your mouth.


Be still. Don't let your mind wonder and think of your worries and concern. To avoid it focus on your breathing. Keep doing it. This exercise will allow you to relax. Being in a relaxed state makes it easy for you to visualize and reprogram your mind.



Here's a program you can try. The Silva Life System will guide you to reach deep levels of meditation and harness the power of your creative visualization and affirmations.



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