We know that the words we use in our “out loud” voice matter because they have impact on other people. But what about the words you use in your head when speaking to yourself about… YOU? We get it this is important, we’ve been hearing about it for years. A Google search on “the power of how we think about ourselves” yields 284 BILLION results. Yep, everybody’s talking about it. The question is, why aren’t we paying attention?
In my work with women, they can quickly identify personal strengths and talents – they’re usually well-practiced. But then there are the things that sneak in, like “I’ll feel better about myself when…” or “I don’t see myself that way…” or “I need to do better at…”. Our negative thoughts are so habituated that we don’t even recognize them as negative. And yet, our “cells are eavesdropping.” It significantly impacts how we see ourselves and how we interact with others. So let’s change it!
Here’s an easy way to begin: Research tells us that the ideal praise-to-criticism ratio is 5:1. Meaning, for every negative thought you have, you need to create five positive thoughts as well. Any small thought will do: “I love that the polish on my big toe is still intact,” or “I appreciate that I went to bed 5 minutes earlier last night.”
Let’s take this relationship construct and apply it to ourselves this week to see how our cells respond! You don’t even have to wait for a negative thought to get started.
