 Flipping the Coin: Finding the Positive Every time you think a critical thought, say hurtful things to yourself, or participate in negative self-talk, you are damaging your self-esteem. You see, you believe what you hear, especially from yourself. This kind of negative thinking or self-talk is like a burrowing insect that eats away at your self-esteem and self-confidence. You do not have to be the victim of this hurtful process. You can turn it around and brush away that burrowing insect of self-criticism. The first step to reducing hurtful and negative thoughts is to increase your awareness of when you are saying hurtful and negative things to yourself. Listen to the way you talk to yourself. Would you say those same things to another person? Would you talk like that to someone who was entrusted to your care? Would you speak that way if you wanted to encourage somebody?
when addressed to someone else, then it would be hurtful when thought or said to you. Think or say your disagreement in your mind with full sentences, in full paragraphs, with expletives. Or you can speak out loud about your disagreement (this works best if you are alone somewhere.) The more clearly you voice your disagreement, the more you can brush away the burrowing insect of self-criticism. It really works. Your clear positive statements to yourself prevent you from believing the old negative thoughts that you were taught. Cloe At forty-seven years old, Cloe was thinking about going to college. |
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