If You Want To Feel Good, Talk Nicely To Yourself

At my work we have a full crew of clients in treatment and when we get people together things start getting stirred up. Emotions start flowing; reactions start happening. This energy charge that happens between people is about humans having thoughts and emotional responses to those thoughts. Sometimes our thoughts make us feel excited and positive about what is going on in the situations we find ourselves. Other times our fearful or negative thoughts create unpleasant feelings.

Let's look at this process so that we might better understand what happens.

Picture this: An event/situation/interaction occurs - you have thoughts about it - those thoughts cause an emotional response - then those feelings cause you to have a behavioral reaction.

Event --> Thoughts --> Feelings --> Behavior

What this means is that as you go through your day, you have thoughts about all that is going on or not. Those thoughts cause you to have feelings about whatever is happening. Those feelings can range from happiness to sadness, from excitement to anxiety, from hopeful to scared. Once your emotions start ramping up you may find yourself out of control and the next thing you know you are hugging your boss or yelling at your teenage daughter who you love very much or some equally unexplainable response caused by your emotions.

How do you best affect your response to any situation? The answer is to pay attention to your thoughts, which can also be called self-talk. If your inner dialogue/thought process is hopeful and positive then your emotions will be positive. If your self-talk is upsetting then your feelings will be angry, fearful, or something equally uncomfortable.

Peace of mind and feeling great all start with your thoughts. It is really quite simple; if you want to feel good, think good thoughts and talk nicely to yourself.

Today watch your thoughts and how you talk to yourself. Make sure you self-talk is kind and supportive, if not change that inner dialogue to bring out the best in you and help you feel positive about you and your life.