Self Talk

Hey readers, welcome to another training session. Today we are going to focus on self talk and its importance. Self talk is importance because it is the dialogue you constantly have with yourself. Truth is a lot of people have negative self talk and say such mean things to themselves. Some of the things we say to ourselves, we would never say to a spouse, family member, or even a friend. So why do we say it to ourselves when we are the the ones we spend the most time with? Think about it, you're with yourself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so you might as well say good things to yourself.

Positive self talk isn't just saying positive affirmations to yourself that you probably won't believe. Think of positive self talk as you saying words encouraging words to someone who needs it. Think of things you would say and begin to practice saying those things to yourself.

Here are some ways to build up your positive self talk:

1. Recognize that your negative self talk isn't always your own voice. Growing up, kids rarely ever talk bad about themselves. Often times, people say things to you and you'll begin to internalize and believe them. We usually become self conscious of the things others point out. People plant so many negative seeds in us and it takes time to uproot them. You can make a daily decision to believe lies about what can tell you or you can believe the truth you say about yourself. The opinion of yourself is the most important and what other people think really isn't your business or concern.
   

2. Learn to separate your identity from what you do. This is hard to do because what we do plays a huge role in our lives. When we succeed at something, we move quickly on to the next thing without any hesitation. However, when we fail at something, we begin to think that we are bad people who are unworthy of pretty much anything. I'm here to tell you that are worthy of love and respect regardless of what you're able to produce. Don't define your whole being based off one failed venture, test, or performance. Additionally, you can bounce back from anything so don't beat yourself up too much.
   

3. Consume Positive Content This is important because what you constantly fill yourself with is what you become and emulate. Try listening to more uplifting music, listen to a podcast, and read a good book. Doing these will allow you to subconsciously become more positive all around. Refrain from media that is depressing because that will cause you to not say good things about yourself. Lastly, stay away from negative people because they will drag you down.
   

4. Let bad thoughts come and go without judgement Bad thoughts will always present themselves to you in your mind, don't believe those thoughts. Thoughts aren't real and they aren't facts. You can't always control what thoughts come up but that's why it's important to not judge yourself for having them. Do your absolute best to settle on the positive thoughts.
   

5. Don't take things people say so personally What people say is more of a reflection of them than it is of you. Don't get too high on the compliments and don't get too low on the criticism. Learn to take everything with a grain of salt and keep it moving. Everyone usually speaks from their perspective and their perspective only.
   

6. Tell yourself good things about yourself out loud Look in the mirror and tell yourself everything you'd want to hear. Tell yourself the things you would when complimenting someone. Never jokingly talk down to yourself because your brain doesn't know the difference between a joke and truth, Don't call yourself stupid over a minor mistake. Learn to separate the identity from the action. What you did might have been stupid but that does not mean you are stupid. There's a huge difference, remember that!
   

That's it for this weeks training session, I hope you found these tips helpful and hope to see you again next week.

Until next time, E.Ibadin