Positive Self-Talk

Now that you have finished building your vicious flower, you can evaluate the thoughts that are connected to feelings that cause you to have physical/body sensations. Anxiety causes you to engage in negative self-talk. For example, anxious selftalk takes on the—what-if thinking that leads you to expect the worst outcome. The—what-if thinking goes uncontested, and the negative self-talk takes control. Taking action on unhealthy thinking makes the situation seem real, even if the action was not necessary. For the sample Callous Flower that indicated the individual is worrying causes the headaches, which supports the theory, he or she may have brain cancer.

This theory goes uncontested until they see a medical physician. Until this occurs, the individual has suffered a great deal of angst because of false-negative thoughts. It is important to understand the mechanisms (negative thinking) that maintain your problems so that you can change them. It is time to target those negative thoughts and counter them with positive statements. This worksheet can be used to record triggers, emotions, negative/intrusive thoughts, and rational responses. A sample case is provided for your reference, as well as an additional worksheet (print this Control your anxiety callus blank sheet to practice):

You may also use the postive self talk worksheet (attached to the end of this article) until you become accustomed to countering negative thoughts with positive selftalk.

“Self-talk is your internal dialogue. It is influenced by your subconscious mind, and it reveals your thoughts, beliefs, questions, and ideas” (Holland 2018). “Self-talk can be both negative and positive. It can be en- couraging, and it can be distressing” (Holland 2018). “Positive self-talk can take many forms: turning negative situations into positive ones, taking problems and turning them into solutions, giving yourself a boost when you need it, or just a friendly reminder that you can do it” (Mayo Clinic Staff 2020). “It is not a way of ignoring bad situations or ignoring your problem at hand, but rather a way to build yourself up and take situations into a different light. If you automatically turn to pessimism when facing a problem, you will often not solve it. In terms of reaching a goal, this is the same—negativity will only keep you down” (Mayo Clinic Staff 2020).

“Much of your self-talk depends on your personality. If you are an optimist, your self-talk may be more hopeful and positive” (Holland 2018). “The opposite is generally true if you tend to be a pessimist” (Holland 2018). “Studies show that personality traits, such as optimism and pessimism can affect many areas of your health and wellbeing. The positive thinking that usually comes with optimism is a key part of effective stress management. And effective stress management is associated with many health benefits.If you tend to be pessimistic, do not despair—you can learn positive thinking skills” (Mayo Clinic Staff 2020).

“Positive thinking and optimism can be effective stress management tools. If you believe your selftalk is too negative, or if you want to emphasize positive self-talk, you can learn to shift that inner dialogue.It can help you be a more positive person, and it may improve your health” (Holland2018).

This article is excerpted from BARS – Biblical Answers that Restore Souls, authored by Diahann JohnBaptiste, MPA, MS, LPC. To purchase a copy, visit Amazon at: BARS on Amazon.