Thoughts play a critical role in determining your emotional responses to events. Your thoughts about yourself have a direct impact on your feelings and behavior. Increasing the amount of positive self-talk can improve your exercise program-and your life in general. Whenever you think about something, you are, in essence, talking to yourself. Self-talk serves as the vehicle for making perceptions and beliefs conscious.
Negative self-talk increases stress. Positive self-talk helps you calm down and control stress: For example:
Negative Positive
"I can't do this." "I'll do the best I can."
"I hate it when this happens." "I know how to deal with this; I've done it before."
"Everything is going wrong." "I can handle things if I take one step at time."
To help you feel better, practice positive self-talk EVERY DAY - in the car, at your desk, before you go to bed or whenever you notice negative thoughts. Remember: Positive self-talk helps you relieve stress and deal with the situations that cause you stress.
