Negative Self-Talk
How many of us have negative self-talk? Do you talk down on yourself on the daily? Or maybe it happens when you are having some hormonal fluctuations? Do you hear yourself talking negatively about yourselves to others?
I am guilty for sure. Of both negative thoughts about myself I don’t say out loud and those I say out loud to others.
Yoga philosophy teaches we have everything we need within us to get through any given situation. Unfortunately, we live in a society that looks outside ourselves for answers. Our internal opinion and self-review can be a lifelong process because we are constantly affected by the external, thus we turn to the external for feedback on what our body should or shouldn’t look like, or what our behaviors should or shouldn’t look like.
Theodore Roosevelt says “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Isn’t that true? And how often do we catch ourselves comparing and putting ourselves up against others? How often to do you find you are talking negatively to yourself? “Where our attention goes energy flows.” Negative self-talk affects our self-esteem. When we tell ourselves we don’t measure up in some way, we change the way we walk, the things we wear, our posture. This change in our self-talk or our condemning thoughts or comparisons of ourselves won’t change overnight but our first step is awareness. The second step is practice and consistency. We can achieve this through our yoga practice and through accountability. Find a spouse or close friend to catch you and say something when you are being down on yourself.
Think About It
Next time you notice negative self-talk or simply thinking negatively of your self-image, pause and reflect how you are experiencing those thoughts or words in your body. How are you holding your body? What muscles are tensed? How does your posture look? What were you doing when you experienced the thought or words? What is the energy behind these thoughts or words? Is it a common thought or thing you say to yourself? Were they words someone said to you at some point? Journal about it to identify patterns.
Also try placing post it notes of positivity around frequent places you spend time. For example on your bathroom mirror: I am beautiful. At the kitchen sink: I am perfectly imperfect. In your car: I am love. Consider what yoga poses or exercises make you feel confident, strong and do those more often. Practice a loving kindness meditation by meditating on the features you love about yourself. Learn a new technique called Emotional Freedom Technique to decrease negative self-talk.
Join me for an online course on your own timeline about living more consciously and noticing that negative self talk here.
In my next retreat we will be talking about tapping into body consciousness to flip the script on negative talk. Join me for retreat details here.
