“You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.” -Joyce Meyer
Just as you can’t have an ice cream cone hold it’s shape in 90 degree heat, you can’t hold a positive experience if your self talk is full of negative chatter.
I often refer to this as mental monsters.
They shake you to the core. The stream of self doubt, worry and anxiety will flush out every past good deed you’ve ever done and make you feel like life is happening to you, not for you.
Founder and CEO of Thrive Global, Arianna Huffington refers to this nasty virus of negative self talk as— the the obnoxious roommate living in our head.
In her book, Thrive, she mentions how important it is to stop this negative dialogue that can so swiftly take over our minds.
“It means pushing back against our obnoxious roommate with a dose of wisdom.”
. . .
Let’s face it, we’ve got to upgrade in order to lose the downgrade. Drop the fear and infuse with wisdom. Transplant the doubt with confidence.
Here’s what I share with my clients to rid the negative self talk and mental monsters that keep them from creating the life they want.
#1) PAUSE. The pause is your new best friend. Whether you are in thought or vocalizing words, the pause will save you from the rabbit hole full of nightmares and altercations that you wished never happened.
#2) ASK. Do you really want to feel this way? Fascinating, right? Most people assume they are going to feel doubt or negativity when they are about to take on a new challenge, appear for public speaking or simply put themselves out there.
Yet, it doesn’t have to be so! Asking yourself means you have a moment of re-enrolling yourself in your own mission. Get back to excitement and ditch the negativity.
#3) PIVOT. Pivot with gratitude. Tap your heart. Express ONE thing you are grateful for. It doesn’t take an entire gratitude journal to make a shift. It simply requires a moment of introspection around something that has worked out.
Life is a whisper my friend. Dust off the negative nellies and infuse yourself with a simple phrase: “I got this.”