Positive Self Talk

We’ve all heard of the power of positive thinking, but do you believe it?  Really believe it?

Stuart Smalley – SNL

I think we all remember Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live.  He’s one of the first thoughts that comes to mind when I think about positive self talk.

His mantra, “I am good enough.  I am smart enough.  And doggone it, people like me!” might sound ridiculous, but it’s not.

In The Science of Self Talk, a blog posted on NPR in 2014, several studies regarding brain-body connections are sited saying that how you see yourself effects how you relate to the physical world.  And how you talk to (and about) yourself, either out loud or in your head, effects how you see yourself.

Think about that.

If you “see” yourself as fat, you might turn sideways to go through a doorway that is wide enough for you to walk through without turning.  If you usually wear a hat and have to duck to go through a doorway, even when you’re not wearing a hat, you duck.  Your mental vision of yourself effects how you interact with the physical world.  And this isn’t a new thing.  One study sited in the NPR article dates all the way back to 1911.  We’ve always been this way, letting our mental state effect us physically.

In Barbara Steingas’ blog How Affirmations Can Keep Us On Track, Barbara talks about using affirmations instead of resolutions for this new year.  I’ve started doing this.  My affirmation is that “I can lose weight.  I’ve done it before.”  Which is true.  I have lost weight before.  I had gotten mired in the fact that the weight loss had stopped.  I had grown despondent and put it all back on.  That doesn’t mean that I’m unable to do it again.  I’ve done it before and I can do it again.