Understanding the concept of self-talk
Your emotions and mood are the by-products of how you think and feel. We all make some conversation with ourselves once in a day but never realise how greatly it impacts our daily life. Just think for a moment and recall the self-talk you might had with yourself today. Was it helpful or destructive or critical?
What is self-talk?
Self-talk is an internal dialogue that reveals our thoughts, beliefs, questions, and ideas. However, it can be both negative and positive. People who generally engage in positive self-talk are considered to be more productive, motivated and confident, whereas people with negative self-talk are inclined towards pessimism, anxiety, depression and constant rumination.
How to develop the habit of self-talk?
You must be well aware of the little commentator that is always chattering in your head. Right? Try to make it the positive one that enhances your confidence, boosts your performance and whispers positive instructions if you are wondering how to develop this healthy habit. Here’s how!
Listen to your inner critic
A study founded that self-talk is often critical and relentless in high-pressure situations. Consider observing what you are saying to yourself and how you are saying it. When words of discouragement and disdain start running disruptively in your head, consider the ways to change it with the positive ones by pausing the conversation.
Be grateful
One way to initiate positive self-talk is to be grateful for what you have in your life. As Melody Beattie puts it greatly into words, Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. Being grateful for the things you are blessed with will help you improve your attitude and hence, you’ll be able to have better self-talk.
Stop comparison
The comparison makes you feel inferior and down about yourself. It makes you feel weak, insufficient individual who lacks potential and hence, it will lead to negative thoughts about yourself. You never know the whole side of the story, so it’s useless to make any comparison. It’s important to be grateful for what you have that others might have not.
Be your best friend
Consider and treat yourself as your best friend. Negative self-talk is only going to hold you back and amp up your stress so it’s great to talk to yourself compassionately as you would like to do with a friend. Try to include a positive spin to the provoking negative messages such as rescript “I am not good at this” with “I can prepare myself for this”.
Acknowledge your strengths
Most of the time, we focus on our weaknesses instead of strengths. One of the best positive self-talk habits you can practice on a regular basis is to acknowledge your strengths and to appreciate what you are good at. Think about why people like you, what you are good at and what your significant others say about you. Realize your strengths and give yourself a pat on the back.
Do what makes you happy
We get caught up in daily stresses of life generally, but they are a part of life. Give yourself some relaxation time and do what you love. Doing what makes you happy will not only make you feel good about yourself but will also keep your mood good and will let you perform at your best.
How do I use this on a daily basis?
Positive self-talk needs practice because some people have this ability naturally, and some people have to learn it. When you want to change your habits and try to learn something new, it will take time. With the passage of time, you will change your thoughts.
You can change yourself by doing only a few things like, identify and overcome the negative self-talk, find humor in conversations, be in positive people’s surroundings, and praise yourself by good words.
