Picture this… You’re working on a project and you realize you have made a big mistake. Shh… listen to your mind chatter. What are you saying to yourself? “I’m such an idiot!” ” What was I thinking? You weren’t you moron!” “Now they’ll know that you don’t know what you’re doing stupid!”
You would never dream of talking to others that way but as you hear those voices you realize that they sound very familiar. So why are we so mean to ourselves? The messages you are hearing are old, most likely those neuropathways were created before you were six years of age . Since then odds are you have run that mental pattern numerous times. The problem is… When you are talking that way to yourself it is activating your Amygdala (fear center) which shuts down the prefrontal cortex (the problem-solving and reasoning part of your brain) Fixing that mistake is going to be much harder now! So what do you do? Here are a few steps to form new neuropathways which will be much kinder and way more conducive to effective problem solving.
Step 1: Let your brain know that you want to hear that negative mental chatter when it is activated. Often the chatter is mostly subconscious.
Step 2: When you hear your mean and nasty self talk – stop. Think what the opposite message would be. So instead of “You are such an idiot.” you can say “You are a genius!” (I can hear your sarcastic tone of voice!) Be nice!
Step 3: Do this anytime you speak unkindly to yourself. You will be building new positive neuropathways.
Step 4: Be patient. It takes time to build new pathways but if you are persistent soon you will hear a much kinder, gentler you.
Have an Amazing Monday!
Leanna Fredrich, Mindset Coach, Adv. EFT, Adv. Psych-K
PS: Ready for success? Want to make sure you don’t sabotage the success you have? Email me at Leanna@amazingmondays.com