People who have positive self-talk may have mental skills that allow them to solve problems, think differently and be more effective in dealing with difficulties or challenges, as well as suffer less anxiety and stress.
Self-talk is your inner dialogue. It is influenced by the subconscious mind and reveals your thoughts, beliefs, questions and ideas. Self-talk can be both negative and positive. It can be encouraging and it can be annoying. Much of self-discovery depends on your personality. If you are optimistic, self-talk can be more hopeful and positive. The opposite is generally true if you tend to be pessimistic.
Positive thinking and optimism can be effective stress management tools. Indeed, having a more positive outlook on life can offer you certain health benefits. For example, a 2010 study shows that optimists have a better quality of life. If you think your self-talk is too negative or if you want to emphasize positive self-talk, there is a way to find out how you can change this inner dialogue. It can help you to be a more positive person and can improve your health.
Positive self-talk can improve your performance and general well-being. For example, research shows that self-talk can help athletes with their performance. It can help them with endurance or strength. In addition, positive self-talk and a more optimistic outlook can have other health benefits, such as: increased vitality, greater life satisfaction, improved immune function, reduced pain, better cardiovascular health, better physical well-being, reduced risk of death, less stress and anxiety.
A basic prerequisite for being able to learn to practice more positive self-talk is to identify negative thinking. This type of thinking and self-talk generally falls into four categories:
Personalization
You blame yourself for everything.
Bulging
You focus on the negative aspects of a situation, ignoring any positive aspects.
Catastrophology
You expect the worst and rarely let reason convince you otherwise.
Polarization
You see the world in black and white, or good and bad, with no in-between.
When you begin to recognize the types of negative thinking, you can work to turn them into positive thinking. This work takes practice and time and does not develop overnight. The good news is that it can be done.
A 2012 study shows that even young children can learn to correct negative self-talk.
