Stopping Negative Self Talk

Your subconscious contains schema or databases that help you predict and react to life.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT encourages you to become aware of automatic thoughts and beliefs (your databases) to alter your reactions, but what if your databases are unnecessarily negative or out of date?

Each night your body takes fragments of information from the day and tries to add them to "files" of similar experiences. For example, most people expect a stoplight to go from red to green. What happens if you pull up to a stoplight that flashes red? If you have never experienced that before, your brain needs to add that to the "stoplight" file so you know what to expect the next time.

Similarly if you had a difficult past or have experienced failures, your databases may predict ongoing distress or failure. However, through guided imagery, you can "virtually" walk yourself through successes and incorporate positive thoughts. Athletes have used this technique for decades to improve their performance. These new experiences, although only in your mind can now be added to your database and will help change expectations and automatic thoughts.

In this video I help you explore the best time to engage in the guided imagery and tricks to help make it more effective.