We all have that little voice in our heads and right now you are probably getting an earful from it. It can either be full of encouragement, prepping us up, bolstering our confidence, boosting our performance and whispering advice or it can be a nagging, self-sabotaging voice that tells us we’re not good enough.
Our inner voice has a huge impact on our life and self-talk has a direct impact on our self-image. If our self-talk consists of self-limiting beliefs, it can cause damage that can be disastrous. However, it is possible to turn things around and provide instructions to our subconscious mind to be more positive instead.
Self-talk is so important because the messages we send ourselves determine whether we keep trying or not. It can help us to either move forward towards success or it can hold us back and keep us paralyzed in fear. Keep in mind, our actions are inspired by our thoughts, therefore if we can change the way we think, we can change the way we act and with that achieve greater success in life.
Here are our TOP 10 tips to practice positive self-talk.
#1 Treat Yourself as You Treat a Friend
You’ve probably heard this many times before, but it’s worth mentioning it again. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. It is very sad how destructive we can be to ourselves when we would never dare to say half of those negative words out lout, let alone to our friends. Every time you start talking down to yourself, stop yourself and consider what you would say to your friend in the exact same situation. Stop being so harsh to yourself and whether you fail or succeed, pat yourself on the back and prop yourself up. Talk to yourself as you would talk to your best friends because if you can find supportive words during times of personal failure, you create a safety net for yourself and can be enthusiastic about making healthy changes.
#2 Say Good-Bye to Negative Internal Chatter
Zen Buddhism refers to that constant chatter in our mind as the monkey mind and Buddha compared the human mind to drunken monkeys jumping around, chattering non-stop. If your mind is constantly chattering and never seems to shut up, it is very hard to inject positive thoughts into your mind. Stop constantly overthinking negative things because over time you will believe them and your actions will reflect your thoughts. Bring those jumping monkeys to a screeching halt to be able to say good-bye to that negative internal chatter and improve the quality of your self-talk by gaining clarity of mind.
#3 Listen Critically to Your Inner Critic
We’ve all experienced that negative voice inside our heads that relentlessly tells us why we can’t do or be something. We all have that inner critic, which stops us from thinking logically and dominates our thoughts, beliefs, habits and behavior. Our inner critic can at times be greatly helpful, but it can also be extremely harmful. Whenever you start noticing that you are being overly critical about yourself, stop, listen critically to your inner critic and change how you view yourself.
#4 Eliminate Can’t from Your Vocabulary
How often do you catch yourself saying ‘I can’t’. Keep in mind, the more you use ‘I can’t’ as a statement of fact, it will become fixed in your mind and gradually your thoughts will actually stop you from achieving what you set out to do. ‘I can’t’ creates limitations for us and feeds our self-doubt. Replace ‘I can’t’ with ‘I can’ and feel the difference. You will remove your mental blocks and can achieve anything you set your mind to and will contribute to greater success.
#5 Create Psychological Distance from Yourself
Using first-person accounts like ‘Why am I so anxious and stressed?’ or ‘How can I improve myself?’ can increase feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety and stress. Instead, use your own name or a second- or third-person pronoun when you refer to your situation. Ask yourself ‘Why are you so anxious and stressed?’ and with that create a psychological distance that will help you to regulate your emotions and lessen your discomfort rather than increasing it. When you use your own name or ‘you’, the situation becomes an interesting challenge rather than a threat.
#6 Eliminate Outside Influences
It is quite hard to shut down the negative voice inside your head when you are constantly surrounded by pessimistic people or flooded with negative news. Once you hear that negativity over and over again, it’s hard not to agree with it, sometimes without even noticing what’s happening. While there are many different ways on how to deal with negative people, the best course of action to practice positive self-talk is to simply eliminate them from your life. Keep in mind, people who are outwardly negative are most likely negative internally as well and this can be highly toxic.
#7 Focus on the Present
You have a much better chance of being positive when you focus on the here and now because you are not thinking about past mistakes or worry about potential failures in the future. Keep in mind, when you constantly think about past failures, you simply beat yourself up over and over again for something that you cannot change and over time your mind becomes really irrational. Let the past be in the past, learn from your mistakes and come back down to Earth and focus on the present moment, so you can create an amazing future.
#8 Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
It’s easy to get down on ourselves when we constantly compare what we lack to what others have. Playing the comparison game only leads to being negative about our own life and it’s a downward spiral from there. Instead, be grateful for what you do have instead of focusing on what you don’t have and work on improving yourself every single day. Live your own life, concentrate on yourself, find gratitude and stop making any comparisons.
#9 Don’t Fear Failure
Most people are scared of failure and fail to realize that failure is the path to success. Remember, some of the greatest success stories in life are from people who have failed several times before reaching huge success. If they would have given up the first time they failed, they would have never been able to achieve massive success, so don’t let fear of failure hold you back from even trying. Change your perspective of failure because it’s one of the most important life lessons you can learn that no other can. Tell yourself you can achieve anything you set your mind to and don’t allow fear of failure to stop you from even trying.
#10 Be Physically Active
We all know that being physically active comes with a plethora of benefits like reduced stress, increased creativity, improved self-confidence, reduced anxiety and increased happy brain chemicals. All of these amazing benefits will allow us to have the ability to practice positive self-talk and eventually reach success in life. So get up, get active and improve your body and mind at the same time by working out on a regular basis.
It is in our human nature to constantly seek personal growth, whether that’s emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually or financially. When we practice positive self-talk, we can set motions in action that will bring us greater health, happiness and success in life. Rid yourself of negativity and train yourself to have empowering positive thoughts.
CHANGE YOUR LIFE BY TALKING TO YOURSELF MORE POSITIVELY
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked
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