There are two kinds of self talk. One is the kind we say out loud or think often to ourselves. The other is so ingrained it is not words, just an emotional response. If we don't monitor and correct our self talk, we will be unsuccessful in accomplishing our goals. It is called Self Sabotage, do you do it?
Self talk is a natural thing. We all do it. We exclaim "Oh No!" when something happens that is a minor disaster. We throw things down and exclaim "I just don't get this" when something we are learning frustrates us. It is natural and normal. Most of the time it isn't a problem.
Sometimes, we have learned an attitude that influences our self talk. Even though we are in the action mode, with written goals, a diet plan and maybe even a coach, we are emotionally in pre-contemplation. We are really saying to ourselves "I won't" or "I can't". These have been described as self sabotage. Words and thoughts that we choose to believe. These are words we say to ourselves. They are words that lead us away from our desired goal.
They are words like "This is just too hard, I can't do it." or "I am never going to lose this weight, I may as well eat what I want" - "I have already blown it. It doesn't matter what I do today" What are your words? Have you ever done this?
Perhaps you end up in front of the refrigerator or your goodies stash. You "find" yourself half way through a pint of ice cream or a bag of cookies. You don't remember what the trigger was that got you there. That trigger was self talk. Either it was verbal or an idea that you have felt for so long that it is an emotional response to the situation. No thinking or talking necessary. It happens, you feel it and then you react.
To get this to stop, you are going to have to look at your self talk. If you don't speak, you are going to have to examine your thought and emotions and decide what triggers this auto-response.
If you correct your self talk, you can control these auto-responses. Correct self talk can catch us up from "I won't" or "I can't" to "Not all I have said or thought is entirely true" or "I don't have to act on this thought. That is all it is until I give it validity."
You can find more about change, fat loss, and coaching here. If you want to learn more about the change process I suggest Dr. James Prochaska's book Changing for Good
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