Become the Boss of Your Mind
Students I work with tell me they want to “get rid” of their anxiety.
Many describe how their imagination plays out worst-case scenarios or how they make decisions based on FOMO or how their procrastination is stressing them out. These feelings of anxiety and stress prohibit a student from feeling successful in school.
There is no “getting rid” of the chatter in their heads that has them feeling anxious and/or stressed, but they can learn to manage and reduce the power this inner voice has.
The most important realization is to know that your chatter does not define who you are. Your self-talk and you are not one and the same.
Here’s how to start to manage your self-talk:
Notice your chatter. A good way to do this is to pay attention to how you feel. Negative feelings (jealousy, spite, nervousness, resentfulness, stress, timidity, feeling less than) indicate self-deprecating and critical self-talk.
Acknowledge it without judging it. “Oh, there I go again. Let me take a minute to distance myself from my thinking.”
Visualize your separation. Here is where connecting the mind and body can really help. You can see the little red person in the graphic has pulled their arm back and shot a force field around themselves to separate from the megaphone’s message. Closing your eyes and seeing yourself do this physical movement of pulling your arm back and feeling the force field grow around you (add a color!) is a vivid way to create separation between you and your negative chatter. The clearer you can see it and feel it, the more real it will feel. I like envisioning myself on a sticky, squeaky plastic pink raft floating down a river away from the megaphone shouting at me. Have fun creating your own visualization, and practice it next time you notice your negative self-talk!
You can become the boss of your mind with practice! And a shout out to @slimoddity on Instagram! I loved this post!