Hello Dear One,
Would you speak to your loved ones the way you speak to yourself?
Would you allow them to speak to you the way you speak to your self?
The things we say to our self can be really mean, unloving and totally unkind. We hurt ourselves constantly with our self-talk. Let’s do a little exercise today to address this ongoing problem.
Your Daily Exercise: – for at least one hour each day, pay particular attention to your thoughts and self-talk in general.
1) Become AWARE of the tone, words and feelings attached to your thoughts
2) As you hear, feel or sense the thought, stop mid-sentence! Interruption is crucial. Just STOP. (a good idea is to wear a rubber band on your wrist and just snap it!)
3) Take that negative thought and change it around. Just CHANGE the words, the tone and the emotion. We have that power – yes we do!
For example: Just take “what the hell am I doing, I’m so ______” and change it to “OK, slow down… what can I learn here?” or, “OK now, how can I do this better now?”
Basically, don’t just say “I’m not having anymore negative thoughts, that’s IT” and hope that’s it. It won’t be.
Have a plan...as you become aware, and be prepared to stop, mid-thought. Then, changing the thought to something useful and positive is essential. Giving your mind something to “fill the spot” allows you to impact your thinking in the most effective way. This allows you to go below the waterline of your conscious thoughts, in the moment and have an impact on the subconscious area of your thinking ( where the motivation for and foundation of the vast majority of your thoughts and actions derive from). Metaphorically speaking, the subconscious is said to be the size of an elephant and the conscious, an ant. (see link below)
Like stopping any bad habit… you don’t want to just stop xyz… stopping yourself from eating a particular sugary snack for instance; When the urge comes to indulge, having something to do with that urge is essential. What will you eat/drink instead? Answering the emotional need by providing your self with a new GOOD habit is the most effective approach.
So replace that negative thought with something positive (determined ahead of time) – something you are grateful for, some encouragement for yourself, a powerful memory of success, a present lesson to learn… ANYTHING that would change the thought/emotion/tone from negative to positive.
Do this vigilantly for at least an hour a day – for 21 days and you will have a powerful, life-changing impact on your thought life. There will be a transformation of the highest order!
Wishing you an abundance of love, joy and peace,
∞♥∞
Further reading : The Ant, the Elephant and Personal Change (more info on the impact of the subconscious mind)