Positive Self-Talk (Positive Brain Programming)

We are constantly programming ourselves, often in a negative manner and unaware of what we say to ourselves. It is even more frightening to realise that everything we say to ourselves is transformed by an area in the hypothalamus into neuropeptides which are sent out to every cell in the body and thus we programme ourselves every day, all day, probably without even realising what we are saying to ourselves or the immensity of the consequences.

• To change my self-talk, I must start by listening to what I say to myself. If I find myself saying negative things to myself, like “I can’t…,” “I’ll never be able to…”, “I’m going to fail”, etc., I should change to a positive statement: “I can…”, “I have already started on my path to success”.
• Make a positive statement e.g. if you hear yourself saying “I’m afraid…”, don’t change it to “I’m not afraid”. What does “not afraid” mean? What does it look like? Rather say “I’m confident.”
• If you find yourself making a future statement (“I’m going to…”) change it to present tense: “Now I’m reaching my goal” or to past tense: “I have already started to be more confident …”
• Positive brain programming always works far better when you are relaxed as you then have much more control over yourself.
• Create a new constructive habit. When driving the car, washing the dishes, standing in a queue, etc., relax and actively give yourself positive messages on any issue that you would like to improve in your life. In this way you will make very good use of time that would otherwise have been wasted.