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Self-Talk, Affirmations and the Inner CriticSelf-talk and affirmations are just some of the ways of reclaiming our own inner true voice and wiping out the inner critic which has taken on board all the degrading and destructive beliefs we have built up around ourselves while being battered by daily verbal and emotional abuse. To truly overcome the negative feelings we are carrying around with us, we need to change our self-talk and retrain our inner critic with affirmations and awareness. Don't panic! It is not complicated and not heavy! One of the observations made by many survivors is that they have a lot of negative thoughts ... this is a normal part of both depression and anxiety. A lot of people are not aware of their own negative thinking, they sort of think negatively and feel bad about themselves, but don't really realise what they are doing. Negative thinking is basically self-talk, but the negative kind, and we tend to believe what we tell ourselves, so if I look in the mirror each morning and think 'I am ugly' then I will believe I am ugly, if I tell myself over and over again each time I feel anxious or nervous that I am a failure, I will believe that I am a failure, no good, can never be successful or happy. Apparently about 70% of our self-talk is negative - which sort of explains why there are so many depressed people around with poor self-image and self-esteem ... but the important thing for us to realise is that we can change the way we think and talk to ourselves, and that will have a direct influence on the way that we perceive ourselves and the way that we feel. The way to do that is by consciously replacing the negative self-talk with positive self-talk, for instance by using affirmations. Okay, so what does an affirmation look like and how do I use it?
You have to make up your own affirmations, they are personal to you and where you want to be, but examples of positive affirmations could be "I face each day positively", "I am at peace within myself", or "I accept/value myself and my body". Recognise and reject our 'internal critic'
***centrepointe460x60.shtml.shtml*** The good news is that if we can learn to recognise the voice of our 'internal critic' we can also learn to reject it and instead replace it with the voice of our 'internal friend' - the voice inside our head which validates us, encourages us and comforts us. This also is about awareness and consciously changing our thought patterns. We learn to listen to ourselves and our self-talk and recognise when it is our 'internal critic' talking to us, then say to ourselves (and sometimes it helps to say it out loud): "no, I am not listening to you, I am being a friend to myself! ". Next we learn and practice being just that - a friend to ourselves, because we have found that we treat ourselves with much more harshness and condemnation than we would our friend, so we ask ourselves 'if I were talking to my friend, what would I say to encourage/comfort her/him?' and then we consciously tell ourselves what we would tell our friend if we were our friend. After consciously practicing rejecting our 'internal critic' and encouraging our 'internal friend' for a while we find that it becomes easier and the critic loses its monopoly over us, we become more considerate and patient with ourselves and are not so dependent on the opinion of other people either. (Most of us have spent our lives so far waiting for validation and approval from people outside ourselves, and have been disappointed many times. Our 'internal friend' helps us validate ourselves and reduces the pain of rejection by those from whom we previously craved approval.)
Next: Self-hypnosis and Relaxation Techniques
Return from Self-talk, Affirmations and the Inner Critic to Awareness of the Self |
In This Section:Domestic Violence Articles Related Pages:Recommended Reading:It's My Life Now - Starting over after an Abusive Relationship or Domestic Violence by Meg Dugan and Roger R. Hock. has been found to be helpful by a number of people recovering from an abusive relationship. Have a look at the portions available online to decide whether it may be of help to you - recovery is a very personal issue. The
Self-esteem Workbook The
Self-esteem Journal: Using a Journal to Build Self-esteem (Overcoming
Common Problems)
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