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Talking To Yourself

Written by: Donald F. Pooley

Article Overview: Our minds are never still. They're always chattering away behind the scenes, commenting on the passing parade: 'Nice car', 'That s.o.b.'s trying to cut in', 'I wonder what she meant by that?', 'Now, what am I supposed to do?', etc.

Talking To Yourself

Our minds are never still. They're always chattering away behind the scenes, commenting on the passing parade: 'Nice car', 'That s.o.b.'s trying to cut in', 'I wonder what she meant by that?', 'Now, what am I supposed to do?', etc.
Much of this chatter is neutral, but some is negative, and some is positive. Negative chatter puts you down. Positive chatter builds you up. Obviously, positive chatter is better for our self-esteem than negative chatter.
It may also be an element in our success or failure.
It may be the hidden reason why two people who seem to be equally talented, attractive, educated, and polished end up at opposite ends of the success scale. Possibly the one at the bottom has a mind full of negative chatter, that spews out resentment, and irritation, blaming others for his lack of success. And maybe the one at the top hasn't time in his mind for such pointless chatter, but tries to fill it with positive ideas on how to improve his life, and grow.
What's your mind saying to you now?
Few of us realize that our mind's chattering may be negative unless we make a conscious effort to listen to it. Ask yourself about any thought, "Is this positive or negative?"
Will James said, "We become what we think about most of the time." Emerson said almost the same thing, "A person is what he thinks about all day long." And we are all familiar with, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
Computer programmers call it GIGO---Garbage In, Garbage Out.
What I often do if an aggravation produces a negative thought is ask myself if I can do anything about it. If the answer is 'No', then I forget it. If the answer is 'Yes', then I do it.
Or consider doing it. Because a 'Yes' answer may lead to negative ideas such as 'Sue the s.o.b.!' If so, I ask myself another question, "Is this answer profitable, or fun?" If it's neither, then I shelve it.
For example my mind may be panicking, and chattering, 'I'll never achieve my goal!' So I ask myself, 'Can I do anything about it?' If the answer is 'No, not for this year, anyway', then I tell myself to forget it because worrying about something that's past is pointless, and non-productive.
I think instead about what I must do to achieve my goal next year.

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