This has been a goal of mine for a while.
There is immense power in the spoken words I believe. I read somewhere that your ears hear what you say and the messages get transmitted to your mind which formulates action plans accordingly. So, in essence garbage in = garbage out. It’s pretty simple. And I think it makes perfect sense. Have you noticed how you can wake up one morning and say to yourself, “oh today is going to be a lousy day” and have you watched how the day actually turns out lousy? But if you wake up and start the day with a good attitude, chances are you can find positive energy to pick yourself up when you stumble.
So I am trying to instill the same fundamental thought process in my children. My older one, 9, is at the age where she is discovering her mind and her whims and fancies. If things don’t go her way, she could get into a little hissy drama consisting of negative words that program her to believe that life isn’t fair, or right. The mind works like a computer and you, my little friend, are responsible for programming it. So let’s start early.
A book by Dr. Shad Helmstetter entitled “What to Say When You Talk to Yourself” recommends putting together a “self-talk” which consists of words of positive reaffirmation and such, which when repeated make an impact in the way you feel and act. You could also construct sentences that help you overcome your fears and doubts so if your little girl is afraid of the 11 feet in the swim class, you can write a line in her self-talk saying: “I am an awesome swimmer and am NOT afraid of swimming in a deep pool.” It works. It’s like a magic pill that bursts into little belief sparkles when you say it. So my daughter and I drafted her self-talk and every morning before she leaves for school, she reads it out aloud with confidence and belief and I see her getting energized for a great day ahead.