Links to other parts of this miniseries:
Turn your inner critic into your inner coach-Part 2
Turn your inner critic into your inner coach-Part 3
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 15 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Turn your inner critic into your inner coach-Part 1
— From The Success Principles™: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield
In this miniseries, business guru Jack Canfield, will teach us how to transform our inner critic into our inner coach. This is very important—and life changing—because research indicates that we talk to ourselves, on average, about 50,000 times a day. And while there’s nothing wrong about talking to ourselves, the unfortunate part is that 80% of that self-talk is negative (!).
We tell ourselves such things as: “I shouldn’t have said… They don’t like me… I’m never going to be able to pull this off… I don’t like the way my hair looks today… That other team is going to kill us…I can’t dance… I’m not a speaker… I’ll never lose this weight… I can’t ever seem to get organized… I’m always late…”
“Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.” – Richard Bach
Research also shows that our thoughts affect our physiology and biochemistry. We’ve all heard stories of people who “stutter, spill things, forget [their] lines, break out in a sweat, breathe shallowly, feel anxious or scared,” as a result of a negative thought.
And we also know from lie-detector tests that our bodies react to our thoughts changing “temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, muscle tension, and how much [our] hands sweat.”
Changes in the body do not occur as a response only to lies or negative thoughts. They also take place as a response to any thought. “Positive thoughts affect your body in a positive way, making you more relaxed, centered and alert. Positive thoughts cause the secretion of endorphins in the brain and reduce pain and increase pleasure.”
So, how can we change the negative thoughts for positive ones?
Canfield says, “The key to dealing with any kind of negative thinking is to realize that you are ultimately in charge of whether to listen to or agree with any thought. Just because you think it—or hear it—doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Drawing on the work of Dr. Daniel G. Amen, M.D., clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Canfield shows a simple path to turn the negative toughs into positive ones: First, you must become aware of the negative thoughts; next you have to challenge them; and, finally, you have to replace them with affirming and positive thoughts. We will learn how to do this further into this miniseries.
For now, Canfield urges us to constantly ask ourselves:
Is this thought helping me or hurting me?
Is it getting me closer to where I want to go, or taking me further away?
Is it motivating me to action, or is it blocking me with fear and self-doubt?
Additionally, he says we must “learn to challenge and talk back to the thoughts that are not serving [us] in creating greater success and happiness.”
And, exactly, how do we do this?
Come back tomorrow to learn how! As a starting point, Canfield will walk us through some of the most prevalent negative thoughts that might attack us at some point or another. By understanding and recognizing them as untrue and irrational, we will promptly realize that they ought to be challenged and replaced.
ACTION
TODAY & FUTURE: Be aware of all the self-talk that goes on in your head. You’ll realize that there is a constant conversation going on! Whenever there’s a negative or an unsettling thought, ask yourself the three questions that Canfield poses above: Is this thought helping me or hurting me? Is it getting me closer to where I want to go, or taking me further away? Is it motivating me to action, or is it blocking me with fear and self-doubt?
Check out tomorrow’s installment to learn to distinguish negative thoughts and how to turn them around to your advantage.
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