Dorothy

Why You Need To Pay Attention To Self-Talk Have you ever felt the draining effect of hanging around negative people? Perhaps this prompted you to minimize their influence on your life. Likewise, you may have tried to boost your optimism by surrounding yourself with positive people. However, this may not amount to much if you don’t pay attention to your self-talk. As a human being, you have an ongoing conversation in your head concerning you and your life. This internal dialogue is known as self-talk. It can either be positive or negative. You may have experienced times when you mostly dwelt on positive self-talk which went something like this; This is a great day, I’m qualified for this task. The most likely effect is that you felt you could accomplish anything and you ended up being more productive. On the flip-side, you may have had times when your self-talk was inclined negatively. The conversation probably went this way; This is the worst day ever, I’m not smart enough. Chances are, you manifested what you kept telling yourself. This is because negative self-talk drains while positive self-talk motivates. Despite the importance of self-talk, most people don’t pay attention to This internal conversation, therefore, goes on unchecked. it. Here are a few reasons why you should monitor your self-talk. 1) Become Aware of Your Self-Talk Self-talk happens so effortlessly, that you may not be aware of what you are telling yourself. To understand your self-talk, you may need to reflect on what you are thinking. Only then can you change or improve it. 2) Replace The Content of Your Self-Talk Once you understand the quality of your self-talk, you can make it work for you. Come up with affirmative sentences to challenge the negative self-talk that held you back. 3) Build Better Belief Systems Your beliefs come from the thoughts you constantly dwell on. Negative thoughts create limiting beliefs. To replace such beliefs, choose to dwell on empowering thoughts. 4) Stabilize Your Internal Environment An unchecked internal dialogue may manifest itself in erratic emotions. What you tell yourself has a much greater impact on your emotions than what actually happens. For instance, anger at someone’s lateness can be ignited by your internal dialogue telling you they did it on purpose. Such a statement may not be true and if checked may help quiet emotions. Conclusion What you say about yourself matters more than what others say about you. It doesn’t matter how much affirmation you get from others. If the conversation in your head constantly puts you down, you need to change it. On the other hand, negativity from outside cannot weigh you down if you have mastered the art of positive self-talk. Start paying attention to your internal dialogue and ensure it works for you.