Learn to talk to yourself with words that give
you good energy.
"No way – I can't do this! I'm hopeless. Loser… yup, that's me."
Ray is talking to himself. You can guess from Ray's self-talk that he does not feel good about something. The clues are all right there in his words. Yes, our words reflect how we feel. But, did you know that it works the other way around as well? You can change how you feel by what you say to yourself. That means that self-talk can be your very own secret strategy for facing life.
Words have power. Ray's self-talk will pull him down and make him feel even worse than before. If your self-talk is like Ray's, why not change it?
One way is to correct what you have already said. When you hear yourself saying something negative, immediately tap the pause-rewind-play button in your brain. Pause before saying anything else. Rewind and play to listen again to what you just said. Then, fix it with kinder, gentler words that give you hope. That means, for example, exchanging an "I can't do that" with an "I can do this". Or, change an "I'm so stupid" to an "I know I am clever enough" sentence.
The second way is to tap your brain's stop-surf-select button even before you say anything to yourself. Stop to size up what is happening. Surf your personal word bank and select the best words you have for that moment. If some phrases work wonders for you, go ahead and use them over and over again when you talk to yourself.
Positive self-talk is not always easy. The hardest part lies in this game’s Rule Number One: words that put down anyone are not allowed. It means you can't say, "I'm lousy." But, it also means you can't say, "I can do better than her because she's lousy." Hard or not, learn to follow this rule to enjoy the full power of self-talk.
- MARY GEORGE
Ray is talking to himself. You can guess from Ray's self-talk that he does not feel good about something. The clues are all right there in his words. Yes, our words reflect how we feel. But, did you know that it works the other way around as well? You can change how you feel by what you say to yourself. That means that self-talk can be your very own secret strategy for facing life.
Words have power. Ray's self-talk will pull him down and make him feel even worse than before. If your self-talk is like Ray's, why not change it?
One way is to correct what you have already said. When you hear yourself saying something negative, immediately tap the pause-rewind-play button in your brain. Pause before saying anything else. Rewind and play to listen again to what you just said. Then, fix it with kinder, gentler words that give you hope. That means, for example, exchanging an "I can't do that" with an "I can do this". Or, change an "I'm so stupid" to an "I know I am clever enough" sentence.
The second way is to tap your brain's stop-surf-select button even before you say anything to yourself. Stop to size up what is happening. Surf your personal word bank and select the best words you have for that moment. If some phrases work wonders for you, go ahead and use them over and over again when you talk to yourself.
Positive self-talk is not always easy. The hardest part lies in this game’s Rule Number One: words that put down anyone are not allowed. It means you can't say, "I'm lousy." But, it also means you can't say, "I can do better than her because she's lousy." Hard or not, learn to follow this rule to enjoy the full power of self-talk.
- MARY GEORGE
