Practicing Positive Self-Talk (article)
Self-talk is the endless stream of thoughts that run through your head every day. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative.
If the thoughts that run through your head are mostly negative, your outlook on life is likely pessimistic. If your thoughts are mostly positive, you're likely an optimist.
Some of your self-talk comes from logic and reason. Other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information.
Self-talk the inner voice sometimes referred to as automatic thinking can be positive or negative. When the theme of your self-talk is mostly negative, your own misperceptions, lack of information and distorted ideas have overpowered your capacity for logic and reason.
But if you weed out misconceptions and irrational thinking and challenge them with rational, positive thoughts, your self-talk will gradually become realistic and self-affirming.
Sometimes you magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, you had a great day at work. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. But you forgot one minor step. That evening, you focus only on your oversight and forget about the compliments you received.
When something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is cancelled and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you.
When You automatically expect the worst. You refuse to go out with friends for fear that you'll make a fool of yourself. Or one change in your daily routine leads you to think the day will be a disaster.
When You see things only as either good or bad, or black and white. There is no middle ground. You feel that you have to be perfect or you're a total failure.
You can learn to turn negative thoughts into positive ones. The process is simple, but it takes time and practice.