Self-Talk & Mindfulness
There is an old story, and it goes like this:
A son and his father were walking in the mountains. Suddenly, the son falls, hurts himself and screams: “Aaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Curious, he yells: “Who are you?”
He receives the answer: “Who are you?”
Angered at the response, he screams: “Coward!”
He looks to his father and asks: “What’s going on?”
The father smiles and says: “My son, pay attention.” And then he yells to the mountain: “I admire you!”
The voice answers: “I admire you!”
Again, the man yells: “You are a champion!”
The voice answers: “You are a champion!”
The boy is surprised but does not understand.
Then the father explains: “People call it an Echo but really this is Life. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. This relationship applies to everything; life will give you back everything you have given to it.”
~ AUTHOR UNKOWN ~
I love the moral to this story. It’s a great reminder that our inner thoughts and outward actions affect the way we experience life.
If you want more love, give more love. If you want truth, be truthful. If you want respect, give respect. If you want others to listen, be a good listener. If you want more kindness, give more kindness.
Equally, what we say to ourselves about ourselves has an echo. Sometimes we might not even be aware of our own self talk. I personally have a tendency to be super self-critical but because I know this about myself, I’m able to notice it when it happens and change the negative thought into a positive. If you can relate, why not give it a go? The next time you make a mistake, listen to your thoughts. If you start thinking to yourself, “I’m stupid” or “I am never going to be good enough”, first acknowledge it and feel it and then say to yourself something like; “ok, so you made a mistake. It sucks and it doesn’t feel good but every human on the planet makes mistakes. I’m going to learn from this and move on.” If you need to say sorry, say sorry but don’t beat yourself up. Take the lesson and then as Tay Tay would say; shake it off!
Big hugs,
