Summer Body Confidence #2 Positive Self Talk

Self-talk is the chitter chatter that goes on inside our head and the conversations we have with ourselves. Just like any conversations we have, this talk can be both positive and negative. But more times than not we are our own worst critic and can be very hard on ourselves. The majority of the time this negative self talk is done sub consciously without us even realising it. However, positive self-talk is about making a conscious decision to say only positive, encouraging and uplifting conversations with yourself. Sure, the negative will still be there from time to time, however, the more of the positive self talk you incorporate the less room for the negative.

Negative self-talk can lead you into a very viscous cycle of self criticism and self hate. Emotions like these can be extremely damaging to both yourself and the people around you. Words such as I hate, I cant, I’m to fat, ugly, not good enough, I’m stupid are all examples of negative self-talk.

Positive self-talk is helpful to us because the body achieves what the mind believes. If you wake up each morning and tell yourself that you are beautiful then eventually you wont have to question this. The mind will believe it and portray it and you naturally wont be so hard on yourself. Sure there will always be those negative feelings from time to time about the way you look and feel however the stronger the positive the weaker the negative.

Listen to your inner talk

Write down the talk going on inside your head. Highlight the positive and cross out the negative.

Stop the negative talk

When you hear the negative talk, stop and say ‘no, I wont accept that and I don’t deserve that’.

Reframe the negative statements

Reframe the negative talk by putting a positive spin on it. For example “I’m not good at anything” to “I’m great at – creating/building/devising/listening/finding ___” and note what you are good at.  We are all good at something, but sometimes the value we put on what we are good at is lower than the value we place on what we are not good at.

Make a list

Whenever you might be feeling a little low, or bad about yourself, stop and write down everything that you love about yourself and everything that you are good at.

Goals for the week – tell yourself something you like about yourself.