Practicing positive self-talk is pivotal to a happy life. Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be special or mechanical, such that you feel detached from what you’re saying. Self-talk is common— you do it every day. You talk in your head throughout the day, don’t you? You’re always going from a conversation to another in your head.
All the computers in the US would probably not contain every discussion you’ve had with yourself. So, as we can agree, talking with yourself isn’t difficult. You’re not doing anything new; it’s the same way you converse in your head— albeit, henceforth, you’re changing the dialogues. It’s time for happy phrases, beautiful lines, and uplifting sentences.
Mechanisms of Practicing Positive Self-talk
In other words, how does positive self-talk work? How can a consistent routine of positive feedback help you have a happier, more fulfilled life? To understand this, you need to first work out the logic behind negative self-talk. I mean, if telling yourself beautiful words can make you happy, why then do you do the exact opposite every hour of your day? And to think that you’re not alone… you’re one of the hundreds of millions who put themselves down every opportunity they get. So, why?
Psychologically, there are four categories attributed to negative thinking and self-talk. That means psychology lists four factors that influence you to think negatively and put yourself down.
Let’s check out these factors briefly.
Personalizing
As this may suggest, you’re always taking responsibility for everything. You blame yourself for whatever happens, whether it is your fault or not. You don’t give yourself the benefit of the doubt whenever something goes wrong. You hold yourself culpable every time.
Partial Magnifying
To worsen the woes, you tend to zoom and focus only on the wrong side of everything, which is not only partial but also debilitating. By choosing to see your fault or what’s bad in every situation, you’re hurting yourself in worse ways than you think.
Acute Polarizing
With this, you put a black or white label on everything that happens. You do not see or accept grey or middle ground. It’s either black or white. That’s a minimal definition of happiness, isn’t it?
Catastrophizing
You’re always keen for things to go wrong. You expect the worst, no matter how hard you try. By doing so, you fail to recognize your little successes because you’re utterly focused on things turning out horribly and catastrophically.
Having known these causative factors above, let’s do a quick exercise: close your eyes right now, think of a color and open your eyes, look around you, you’ll easily find many objects of that same color wherever you may be— except you’re in a hospital room where everything is white. That aside, you’ll be astonished at how quickly you identify items bearing the color you’ve put in mind. Say, if you were by the roadside and decided to count only red cars for the day, you’d hardly notice cars of another color.
3 Excellent Tips For Practicing Positive Self-talk
How do you practice positive self-talk? Yes, you’ve read of the limitless benefits of positive self-talk, but how do you do it? Is it possible to wake up some morning and decide to revolutionize your whole life? As easy as it may seem to say kind words to yourself, it is an amazingly difficult thing to do. Remember that it’s herculean to adopt a new lifestyle— which is what you’re doing, albeit specifically with your thoughts and mind.
However, it is very much possible. Keep in mind that it’s your mind and only you can decide what to do with it, and at this stage, you’re choosing to be happy.
With the three tips we’ll be discussing below, you can have the most beautiful, joyful, and inspiring conversations with yourself. Here’s how to go about it.
Recognize Negative Thinking Triggers
Why do you put yourself down? What is the usual trigger for you to talk unkindly to yourself? By answering these questions, you have a grip on the issue. When you can identify the reasons you go hard on yourself, you can work towards crushing the structure. Note that the situation is like an investment in stocks. To make profits, you must first identify the foundations. So, answer this: what sets you off? What gets you mad… mad at yourself?
Care More For Yourself
Caring for yourself is crucial to practicing positive self-talk. When you fail to care for yourself, talking positively about yourself to yourself will be very much difficult. If you believe you’re as awesome as you preach to yourself, why not care for yourself? You see the logic, don’t you?
For this, eat healthy foods, do some exercises, spend more mindful time, set aside time for fun and relaxation, and discuss positively with people you hold close and, more importantly, who hold you close as well.
Practice Daily
This is so obvious, isn’t it? It took years and years of negative discussions with yourself to be so put down. You must, therefore, know that a change won’t come easily and instantly. The idea that you are inadequate and horrible was conceived due to persistent negative self-talk. I mean, you would agree it isn’t a piece of cake to stop what you’ve been doing for probably a decade, but you can. Who says you can’t with some positivity and mindfulness? No one.
When you start your morning with uplifting words, adorn your day with motivational talks and go to bed with statements like “I’m proud of you, Bryan!”, you’ll be having a lot of happiness. Believe it. It’s common logic.
Helpful Mantras For Practicing Positive Self-talk
Having a set of positive mantras to recite and believe when you wake, work, and relax is very crucial to positive self-talk. Different authors and experts have emphasized the significance of these uplifting sentences. Here are the finest of them:
- I am valuable and purposeful.
- I am unabashedly proud of myself.
- I choose to be happy this instant, today, and forever.
- I am adequate— I am the cake and its icing!
- I am grateful for my blessings.
- I am responsible for how I feel and live.
Final Thoughts on Practicing Positive Self-talk
Fortunately for me, you and millions of others, practicing positive self-talk is easy and extremely beneficial. Having uplifting conversations about yourself with yourself will boost your confidence, combat anxiety, increase your happiness, support healthy habits, and reduce stress. What are you waiting for? Go, go, Superman!
