How Self Talk Impacts Your Mental & Overall Health

Did you know that how you speak to yourself affects your mental and overall health? Glen explains what self-talk is, how positive, negative, and neutral self-talk each shape the way you feel, and why most of us run on autopilot without noticing the thoughts we repeat. She walks through simple steps to fact-check automatic thoughts, reframe them, and speak to yourself the way you would to a close friend.
This talk is for anyone who wants a kinder, more realistic inner voice. This content is educational and is not a substitute for one-on-one professional care.

Transcript

So today, I wanted to focus on self-taught. Because self-talk plays a crucial role. In mental, Emotional, And overall health. So what is self-talk? Basically, Self-talk involves your internal conversations, The things you think about and repeat to yourself about yourself. And self-talk can be positive, Negative, Or neutral, Which is more objective. The impact that self-talk has on your mental and emotional and overall health. Number one, Your body. Here's everything you say to yourself. And responds in kind. So if your self-talk is negative, Then your body creates negative energy in your body. And we know negative energy is not the best space to be in. Positive self-talk, On the other hand, Energizes, Empowers. Inspires. And neutral self-talk is more about just seeing things objectively, Seeing them the way they are. Whether it's uncomfortable or not, It is what it is. So what is the content of your self-talk? Do you know? Maybe not because most people operate on autopilot. That means they have automatic thoughts that just run rampant through their brains. So if we're having that kind of content in our internal dialogue, Just imagine the emotional impact that will have. And when we experience uncomfortable and negative, What we call negative emotions, What do most of us do? We tend to, We want to get out of it as fast as possible. We will turn to comfort foods, Comfort drinks, Inappropriate criminal behavior sometimes just to get out of that uncomfortable, Unpleasant emotion that was created by our negative self-talk. So. What you want to do instead is you want to be honest with yourself. Take a real good look at the dominant themes of your self-talk. What is your internal dialogue look like? Is it about weakness or lack or being less than? And when you think those things to yourself, Are you empowered? Do you feel confident, Competent, Capable? Do you feel lovable? When you speak to yourself in that way. I would bet you not. I would bet you not. So if you're repeating to yourself over and over again, That you're not good enough, That you're unlovable, That you're ugly. Then you will start to believe it. However, However, Your thoughts are not facts. So please don't believe everything you think. Just because you think it doesn't mean it's realistic and true. There are a lot of faulty thoughts that run through our minds. We call it distorted thinking, Distorted cognitive distortions. That's because they twist the truth. And twist them and mangle them up. So the work involves untangling. Your your thinking patterns and so you can differentiate between the unrealistic and the realistic thoughts which when you are thinking more realistically. And being more honest with yourself, Then that will lead to more constructive emotional experiences that will lead you to better choices. Better outcomes. So fact check. Start to challenge those negative, Those automatic negative thoughts about yourself. Is it really true? Is it true that you're unlovable? No. Somebody in your life loves you. Someone in your life genuinely cares about you. Are you stupid? No. You might just lack certain information, Which can be resolved by learning. Or acknowledging that you're not interested in that topic anyway. And then you can move on and move forward. Fact check. So you can learn to differentiate between the unrealistic and the realistic thoughts. Again, Our thoughts trigger our emotional experiences. So the negative thoughts tend to create what we call negative emotions, Which are unpleasant and uncomfortable, Which leads to immediate gratification choices to get rid of, Or get out of, Or ignore, Or try to forget those unpleasant and uncomfortable emotions. However, It doesn't work. It only may distract you temporarily, But as long as those emotions and negative energy is still there, It's still gonna take its toll on you. And so. Change your thoughts to change your outcomes to improve your life. You can start by reflecting on the dominant themes of your thoughts by fact-checking them. Are those thoughts really true? Are you really unlovable? No, You're not. Okay? And then once you recognize the dominant themes of your negative self-talk, Then you can catch it in real time. You can catch yourself doing it. And when you catch yourself doing it, Then you have the power, The choice to reframe. Than negative thinking. You can explore other ways of looking at your situation or whatever you're dealing with. You can. Change the way you see things. As Wayne Dyer said, Change the way If you change the way you look at things, Then the things you look at change. Your situation will take on a whole different context, A whole different feel to it, Which again, You will feel more competent and more capable of handling, Of dealing with. Also, You can. . . Start to talk to yourself as you would your best friend. If your best friend, Someone you genuinely care about, Came to you and said they were having a difficult time and told you all about it, Would you call them stupid? Would you call them lazy, Weak, Dumb? Probably not. You would say something more encouraging like, You can handle this. Take your time and work it out. You don't have to rush into a decision. You would say something so loving and so supportive to someone else. You know what, Phil? You are the only person you are with 24-7. So why not have the best relationship with that person, With yourself? Why not? So you can do this. You can. Shift your self-talk into something more realistic, Something more useful, Something more powerful for you. Just reflect on what runs through your mind the most. Look at other ways of seeing your situation. Fact check to see if those automatic thoughts are true. Probably not, Though. Then you can reframe them, Look at other ways of seeing it. And then start to talk to yourself as if you are your best friend. Which were really could be our own best friends. And if everybody were their own best friends. Then they wouldn't need to hurt other people. Because as Susan Taylor said, People in pain hurt other people. So your self-talk has a huge influence, Huge impact on your mental, Emotional, And physical health. And I'm here to tell you that you deserve so much more than that. And I hope you do. Start to look at it, Start to work on it, Start to make that shift and be more positive, More loving towards yourself.