Are you being run by that crazy voice in your head? You know the one.…
Bulimia Help: Positive Self Talk
I caught myself two weeks ago in some really negative and self-defeating self-talk. Yes, even after nearly 7 years of eating disorder recovery, I still catch myself having moments of negative thoughts. The key to recovery is catching or being aware of your thoughts when you’re having them.
How we talk to ourselves and the thoughts we think create our future. Years ago, before I beat my overeating disorder, I would have let that negative self talk run my day and lead me to binging and purging. I appreciate how far I’ve come in my recovery because instead of feeling powerless over my thoughts, I was quickly able to become aware of them and turn it around.
Positive self-talk is the key to high self-esteem and self-confidence. If I am not focused on the positive aspects of myself and my life, then I will not feel good. The process of manifestation says:
Thoughts lead to feelings resulting in my actions causing my results.
Because the Source within me knows my goodness and my worth when I think negative thoughts I start to feel bad. When I think negative thoughts about myself I’m not allowing alignment with God and that makes me feel bad. When I can catch myself feeling down or bad about something that’s my opportunity to turn it around and change the thoughts I’m thinking. If I can change the thoughts I’m having (about myself, others or my environment) I will start to feel better.
Here’s how I’ve been practicing positive self talk since I caught myself a few weeks ago.
- Morning Confidence Builders – each morning when I’m getting ready for my day I start to think and feel empowered thoughts. I say things to myself like “I’m a good person. I am smart and helpful to people. I know what I need to do. I like who I am. I can do it. I’m worth it. I have friends who know and love me.” I repeat this rampage for about 3-4 minutes with sincere feeling until I create an unstoppable attitude.
- Heightened Awareness – ever since I caught my negative feelings I’ve been on high alert for negative thoughts. When I catch myself having a negative thought, especially one directed towards myself, I negate or turn it around. For instance, if I catch my thoughts saying “you’re weak” I just insert my higher consciousness into the conversation and say “No, I’m not. I’m pretty incredible actually” and then I start on a positive self talk rampage until I turn that energy around.
- Act In Spite of Fears – when I find myself in a situation to make a decision I’m letting my higher self take action, rather than listening to any self-defeating thoughts. For example, if I need to call or email someone that I’m uncomfortable talking to then I just say to myself “good things always happen to me and this will work out for the best so just do it”. That gets me over the hump of fear and doubt and into action.
I hope this helps you understand how to create positive self talk in your life. The more you practice thinking positive thoughts, the easier it will be to think more thoughts. By law of attraction, your positive thoughts will attract more thoughts like them. It’s easier for me to turn around my negative self talk now after many years.
Try it for yourself. Remember to go easy on yourself if it’s not easy at first. You may need to practice heightened awareness for at least 30 days to notice a real shift in your thoughts. But the payoff is definitely worth it.
One final thought…here’s one of my favorite self help teachers (Abraham Hicks) with a video on positive self talk.