The Coping Club: Positive Self-Talk
Topic: Positive Self-Talk
The Stress Bucket - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KYC5SsJjx8
Self-talk is the way you talk to yourself, or your inner voice. You might not be aware that you're doing it, but you almost certainly are. This inner voice combines conscious thoughts with personal beliefs and biases to create an internal monologue throughout the day.
How can self-talk affect your mental health?
Self-talk is important because it has a big impact on how you feel and what you do. It can be
supportive and beneficial, motivating you, or it can be negative, undermining your confidence.
If you mainly think negatively about yourself, you will feel bad most of the time. This can drag you down or if you’re down, it can be hard to get back up. Negative self-talk is often experienced by people who have depression or anxiety. The constant negative chatter can be overwhelming and difficult to break out of.
3 C’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfkhkFwCtxs
3 Key Questions to Ask Ourselves:
- Is my thinking kind?
- Is my thinking accurate?
- Is my thinking helpful?
Identify Negative Self-Talk Traps
- Personalizing. You blame yourself for everything.
- Magnifying. You focus on the negative aspects of a situation, ignoring any and all of the positive.
- Catastrophizing. You expect the worst, and you rarely let logic or reason persuade you otherwise.
- Polarizing. You see the world in black and white, or good and bad.
Taming our Inner Critic
- When we make a mistake, fail in some way, or have shortcomings, our inner critic starts to judge and criticize us.
- “Should” statements dismiss, invalidate, or reject our current feelings and experiences.
- We may beat ourselves up for any imperfection, instead of having any understanding or patience
Self Talk and Resilience
Positive self talk is a critical skill for building resilience. It's the voice that reminds that we can get back up even when it feels like we can't
"Talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you love" – Brene Brown
