Friday, August 28, 2015

Self-Affirmations

I was skeptical about positive self-talk, and I'm still not fully comfortable in some of the practices I read about. Some seem to imply they accomplish magical things just by repeating certain phrases.

Self-talk refers to the ongoing internal conversation within ourselves. We do it constantly, and it influences how we feel and behave. We talk to ourselves all day long and too often our self-talk is negative, focused on guilt about our past or anxiety about our future. Our thoughts inspire our actions. If we can redirect the way we think, we can change the actions we take.

Daily, I've repeated self-affirmations or positive self-talk, but only those that I believe are possible. They're what I consider reachable goals. Research shows that if we focus on those possibilities and keep reminding ourselves, eventually our behavior and attitude change.

As an experiment I began to say several times a day, "I accept my feelings; I feel my emotions." I started that because of my abusive childhood, when I became overwhelmed with good or bad news, I numbed out. I wanted to experience my feelings, so I began to say those two statements.

I can't remember when the transformation took place, but months later I realized that I was feeling and I no longer numbed out.

Here's another I repeated for a long, long time and now believe it without having to say it: I am lovable.

Try your statements. They might make drastic changes in your life.

2 comments:

Roger Mann said...

I really do think there is something to this. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. For many years I was constantly brushing off compliments and putting myself down. I honestly felt they were mistaken and I was undeserving or worse, they were after something from me. The latter was true enough at times to justify the thought.

As I continued through recovery, I began to just say thank you and not make any off putting comments after it. It felt awkward at first but it was a step in the right direction. Now I will tell myself when I am down that I am worth it, I am a good person that bad things happened to and I am getting better. And getting better I am at doing this self talk thing. Doesn't happen overnight,(what does anymore), but I have noticed a self confidence that I never had before. Others have noticed it too.

Sometimes good things will happen to me and when pointed out now I just say "What can I say, God love me bunches." I really believe He does too.

Just my thoughts

Unknown said...

Thanks Roger & Cec! I spent a lot of time with negative maybe it's time to do some positive! God really does love us - He is there & wants to heal us. It's awkward to look in the mirror & say positive things or even think them. Maybe I can say "You are OK & with God you got this!" It's a start.