Content

Mindful Self-Talk

What do people want?

To be happy.
A calm mind.

Mindfulness is awareness of our internal states and self-talk. By learning to observe our thoughts, feelings and emotions, without judging or reacting to them. Mindfulness changes the emotional reactions into calm responses.

Important tips for effective self-talk

Most of us are in constant mental chatter. We talk to ourselves all day long and, unfortunately, this self-talk can be negative and even detrimental. Often it is tainted with regret or guilt about our past or anxiety about our future. This negativity can destroy any seed of hope that we may otherwise have in striving for our dreams.

Our actions are inspired by our thoughts. If we can change the way we think, we can begin to change the actions we take. It is human nature to seek personal growth whether financially, emotionally, physically or spiritually. Practicing positive self-talk can help us set in motion actions that will bring us greater rewards.

The following are six steps to effective self-talk:

Think about your thinking
Do not passively allow negative thoughts to come. Say out loud or write down thoughts as close as you can to the moment they occur. Acknowledging them in this way slows them down and helps to stop them from passing unnoticed.

Challenge negative beliefs
Ask yourself questions about the veracity of the self-talk. Helpful questions can include: What evidence do I have (for or against) that this belief is based on my feelings or on facts? Who is the source of this information? Can I get the perspective of another person?

“It’s got to be believable”
Begin to replace negative thoughts with a realistic, balanced and meaningful alternative. Many times a “positive” thought does not make a person feel better because it feels too general or empty, such as “it will all be okay.” Balanced thoughts consist of a realistic and evidence-based view of the situation.

Repeated practice
For many people this is an unnatural exercise and all too often given up before it has become a habit. Repeat these steps until you notice it has become more automatic for you. Often, practicing these steps will take place after the moment has passed. As the skill becomes more natural you’ll find that you can do it in the moment for even more effective results.

Stay in the present
Depression, regret and guilt are often about the past. Anxiety is about the future. All we have is now, so increase your focus on this moment. Simple mindfulness techniques can help you be in the moment at any given time during your day.

Laugh
Life is full of absurd, amazing and unbelievable events. Watch what goes on around you and laugh, by yourself or with others. The most effective laughter is not at another person’s expense but rather genuinely at the humor of being human.

source – https://www.allinahealth.org/healthysetgo/thrive/important-tips-for-effective-selftalk+++
Why, when practiced properly, affirmations work.
1. Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between real and imagined. If your affirmation is something that is possible, say it as if it’s already true. In his book, “Natural Brilliance,” Paul Scheele gives a good example of the fact that your subconscious doesn’t know if something is real or imagined. He tells about the time he was studying hypnosis and his teacher said, “Once you get someone into a trance, give them a suggestion that they can’t do some simple thing like they can’t lift their foot because their shoe is glued to the floor. Then repeat these words several times, ‘No matter how hard you try, you can’t.'” Later, during his first stage performance, Scheele was amazed to see this six-foot tall man stand in front of him that he’d just put into a trance and he couldn’t lift his foot because he really believed that his shoe was glued to the floor!
2. Your beliefs triumph over reality. New placebo studies explore how the brain works with suggestion, such as the experiment in which Japanese researchers blindfolded a group of 13 students who were known to be highly allergic to poison ivy. The researchers told them their right arm was being rubbed with a poison ivy plant, which was really a harmless shrub. Afterwards, all the students’ arms showed the classic symptoms of poison ivy: itching, boils and redness. The biological effects were the result of the students’ beliefs, even though no poison ivy had touched them. Next, the researchers told the students they were rubbing a harmless plant on their other arm, while they actually rubbed poison ivy on their left arm. Only 2 of the 13 students reacted to the poison ivy and broke out in a rash.
3.”Feeling” affirmations, rather than just saying or writing them, is what gives them power. In his book, “The Spontaneous Healing of Belief, “Taos County’s own Gregg Braden shares about his journey with a small group that accompanied him to Tibet and their experience at an 800-year-old monastery, hidden at the base of a mountain. Through their translator he asked the abbot, “When we see your prayers, what are you really doing? When we see you tone and chant for 14 and 16 hours a day … when we see the bells, the bowls, the gongs, the chimes, the mudras and the mantras on the outside, what is happening to you on the inside?” As the translator shared the abbot’s reply, Braden knew that this was the reason they had come to this place. “You have never seen our prayers,” the abbot answered, “because a prayer cannot be seen. What you have seen is what we do to create the feeling in our bodies. Feeling is the prayer.”
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This is the Official MBSR training program. Developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
The Three C’s for Combating Negative Self-Talk:
Catch it.
Check it (against reality)
Change it.
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The Magic of Self-Talk: You Know More Than You Think
You probably talk to yourself a lot. Sure, the words might not be spoken out loud, but the noise between your ears can sometimes be deafening.
Psychologists call this habit “self-talk.” It’s a near-constant flow of thoughts, including observations, opinions, insights and feelings. But if our self-talk is negative or pessimistic, it can make us feel anxious, depressed, angry or fearful. Numerous studies have shown that modifying our self-talk to be more positive can lead to better mental and physical health, and to success in business and other areas of our lives — perhaps even investing!
Yet quieting the mind is no easy task. Our brains, to quote Bruce Springsteen, were “born to run.” Enter meditation. Mindfulness — a form of meditation — is a hot topic today. According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S., meditation is the fastest-growing trend among complementary healthcare practices, coming in ahead of yoga and chiropractic care.
Part of the reason for the rising popularity of mindfulness meditation is the growing number of scientific studies — particularly those using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology — that are showing real and long-term positive neurological changes among people who meditate. Benefits are being seen in individuals experiencing anxiety, depression and chronic pain.
Like sports competitions, job interviews, business deals and other tasks, investing is a challenging activity that can benefit from having the right mindset. But if mindfulness is still a work in progress for you, here are a few ways to bring some “positive” to those conversations we often have with ourselves.
Mind Your Pronouns: Using the second-person pronoun “you” when talking to yourself is more effective than using the first-person, according to research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. “You” — as in “You’ve got this!” — can strengthen our positive intentions before undertaking a task, as well as our performance of the task itself.Challenge Your Self-Talk: When you find yourself making a negative statement, challenge yourself to determine if it’s actually true. For example, “I never get this right” could become, in second-person pronoun, “You know a lot more than you give yourself credit for.”
Pep Talk: Before tackling a challenge, tell yourself that you will succeed. A study in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that positive self-talk was more effective than visualizing success.
Mind Your Ps: According to research published in Psychological Science, three types of self-talk are effective in improving task performance:
Permanence: Optimistic, resilient people tend to see the effects of negative events as temporary.
Pervasiveness: Resilient people don’t believe that a setback will affect other areas of their lives.
Personalization: Resilient people are less likely to blame poor performance only on themselves.
Positive Influences: As much as you can, surround yourself with habitually positive people. Their good cognitive habits can rub off.
Action Plan: Use action-oriented self-talk that guides your behaviour to what to do next instead of thinking about what emotional state or action to avoid. For example, instead of “Don’t get so angry,” try “It’s okay, just go for a short walk.”
Time Out: Taking time each day to reflect on the goals you’ve set for yourself will help you focus on the future rather than ruminating about the past.
Here’s to finding the right mindset for you!
source – https://www6.royalbank.com/en/di/hubs/ideas-and-motivation/article/how-to-benefit-from-self-talk/jtdhapqp
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Important tips for effective self-talkMost of us are in constant mental chatter. We talk to ourselves all day long and, unfortunately, this self-talk can be negative and even detrimental. Often it is tainted with regret or guilt about our past or anxiety about our future. This negativity can destroy any seed of hope that we may otherwise have in striving for our dreams.

The following are six steps to effective self-talk:Think about your thinking
Do not passively allow negative thoughts to come. Say out loud or write down thoughts as close as you can to the moment they occur. Acknowledging them in this way slows them down and helps to stop them from passing unnoticed.
Challenge negative beliefs
Ask yourself questions about the veracity of the self-talk. Helpful questions can include: What evidence do I have (for or against) that this belief is based on my feelings or on facts? Who is the source of this information? Can I get the perspective of another person?
“It’s got to be believable”
Begin to replace negative thoughts with a realistic, balanced and meaningful alternative. Many times a “positive” thought does not make a person feel better because it feels too general or empty, such as “it will all be okay.” Balanced thoughts consist of a realistic and evidence-based view of the situation.
Repeated practice
For many people this is an unnatural exercise and all too often given up before it has become a habit. Repeat these steps until you notice it has become more automatic for you. Often, practicing these steps will take place after the moment has passed. As the skill becomes more natural you’ll find that you can do it in the moment for even more effective results.
Stay in the present
Depression, regret and guilt are often about the past. Anxiety is about the future. All we have is now, so increase your focus on this moment. Simple mindfulness techniques can help you be in the moment at any given time during your day.
Laugh
Life is full of absurd, amazing and unbelievable events. Watch what goes on around you and laugh, by yourself or with others. The most effective laughter is not at another person’s expense but rather genuinely at the humor of being human.