Why Talking to yourself is good...if you are saying the right things

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Proverbs 18:21 King James Version (KJV)

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

The words we speak are so important. Day in and day out we just talk. We say things without even really thinking about what we are saying. How many times have you said "my head is killing me" or " I am broke" or all of the other things that we say in our normal conversation. It seems harmless enough. We are just talking. But words are powerful. We can bring things into our lives by the words that we are saying about our life.

The words we speak are important because they influence our beliefs. When you believe something to be true you act accordingly. Think of your words as seeds. What you plant is what you get.

This week I was speaking to one of the ladies that I coach. She has been having some really bad times with her back. It has gotten to the point now where she uses a cane to get around most of the time and basically spends a lot of time lying around. As we were talking she said several time how much her back was killing her. How hard it was for her to get around and how her day was spent mostly lying around in bed because of her back. Because of her back it was hard for her to raise her hands to comb her hair. Because of her back it was hard for her to stand to do anything. She went on and on with all this negative talk. And of course every time she said something different she seemed to become more depressed.

When she came up for air, I said. "hmmm, have you ever thought that you brought some of this about?" "What? How did I do that?" she asked. Since we had been talking about being positive and speaking positive things in our lives I used this as my opportunity to share with her how words have power. And that most of her words about her back and her back pain were negative. She had given those words power and her back pain was acting to the belief that she had put out there.

She was quiet for a while as she thought about that. "But my back is really hurting" she finally said. "I'm sure it is" I replied. "But how about changing your words. Instead of saying my back is killing me, why don't you say, my back feels good. I can stand up straight. I can do all of the things I need to do without my cane. Every day my back gets stronger and stronger" "You make it sound so easy" she said. I laughed. "Nope. not easy" I assured her.

Because when you are in the midst of pain, bad relationships, bad job, bad kids, bad circumstances it is really hard to speak positive. It is hard to see the good when all you see is the bad. But that is when your faith kicks in. That is when you go into the make believe. At least that is what I do. I love affirmations. I write them, I read them daily. I repeat them until I start to believe what I am saying to be true. I visualize it. That is why I say I go into make believe. In my mind I make believe that I have what I say.

That is why I am careful about the words I use. I don't want to bring any negativity to me because of the words that I use. I want to plant good seeds that will bring forth a good harvest.

So that is why I said that talking to yourself is good. Positive self-talk gives you a more optimistic outlook about things. It takes you out of that gloom and doom, woe is me, things won't ever get better attitude.

According to Google, positive self-talk brings about better physical well-being, less stress, reduced pain, greater life satisfaction and increased vitality.

But for some of you who have been so used to negative self-talk you are going to have to work on forming a new habit of speaking positive self-talk. I know that forming a new habit takes time so here are a couple of tips to help you along the way. Watch your mouth and your thoughts. When you find yourself saying something negative, immediately replace the negative with something positive. Make sure to surround yourself with positive people. Leave those Negative Nellie's alone. And my favorite, get you some positive affirmations. Put them where you can see them. Repeat them often.

Remember, positive self-talk can improve your outlook on life. Why don't you give it a try.