This document discusses self-talk and how positive self-talk can improve one's well-being and success, while negative self-talk has detrimental effects. It notes that negative thinking is more natural due to biases, but provides strategies for changing to positive self-talk such as becoming aware of one's thoughts, listening to one's words, and changing negative words to positive ones. The document encourages surrounding oneself with positive people, things, and places to support developing positive thinking habits.

1. CHANGING
OUR SELF-
TALK
Examining how we talk to ourselves
Created by I M Confident Niagara Canada

2.  Self-talk is how you talk to yourself, either
aloud or silently and mentally.
 An internal conversation where you provide
opinions and evaluations about yourself.
 Can be either positive or negative and both
have an impact on how you feel about
yourself.
WHAT IS SELF-TALK?

3.  Boosts your confidence
 Keeps you from feeling depressed or negative
 Eliminates stress
 Keeps you healthier
 Improves your body, mind and soul
 Helps build good relationships
 Increases happiness and success
POSITIVE SELF-TALK

4.  Destroys self-esteem
 Distorts views of people and situations
 Creates a negative perspective
 Causes communication breakdowns
 Tears apart relationships
 Limits abilities
 Limits happiness and success
 Causes stress
NEGATIVE SELF-TALK

5.  Research shows that we have a negative bias, that we tend to
think more negative thoughts than positive thoughts
 We think thousands of thoughts each day and over 80% are
negative
 Living in a negative environment creates a bad habit of
negative thinking
 We talk to ourselves in a negative way and become own worst
enemy
 Need to work hard to focus on positive thinking
NEGATIVE THINKING IS MORE
NATURAL….

6.  We don’t do anything right
 Will never have any friends
 Have no value
 Nobody will ever love us
 Will never be happy or successful
 There is no hope
Negative thinking can destroy our entire world!
WHAT NEGATIVE
THINKING TELLS US

7.  You are getting a vaccine as a child and the doctor says, “This is going to
hurt”. So every time you get a needle, you expect that it will hurt.
Everyone has a different pain tolerance and may not experience pain, so
this is a false statement.
 Your mother tells you not to sit on a public toilet seat because it is dirty.
This can create a fear of using public toilets. It would have been better
to show you how to clean or cover the seat so you could use it
comfortably.
 A friend tells you about a new employee at your company who is “very
mean and you should stay away from them”. This will probably stop you
from even finding out what that person is really like. They might be a
very nice person, but somebody has experienced a personality conflict
with them and has a biased opinion.
NEGATIVITY FROM THE
PAST

8. 1. Become aware of your thoughts
2. Listen to what you are actually saying
3. Think about how your words make you
feel
4. Change any negative words into positive
words
5. Keep practising daily
HOW TO CHANGE
SELF-TALK

9. POSITIVE OR
NEGATIVE SELF-TALK?
Are these statements positive or negative?
1. I’m too stupid to learn anything. No point going to college.
2. I’m so fat, I will never lose weight. No point going on a diet or
exercising.
3. I’m not a good communicator, but I try hard to talk to people.
4. I make a lot of mistakes, but I always try to learn something and do
better the next time.
5. Nobody likes me so I will never have any friends.
6. I have a great family who supports me and loves me.

10. 1. I CAN’T becomes I CAN.
2. I WON’T becomes I WILL.
3. I DON’T becomes I DO.
4. I SHOULDN’T becomes I SHOULD.
5. I’M NOT becomes I AM
6. I’M AFRAID becomes I’M NOT AFRAID.
NEGATIVE WORDS CAN BECOME
POSITIVE WORDS

11. CHANGING NEGATIVE
TO POSITIVE
Change these negative statements into positive statements.
1. I’m too stupid to learn anything.
2. I’m so fat, I will never lose weight.
3. Nobody likes me.
4. I can’t do anything right.
5. Everyone tells me I’m a loser.
6. My life is a mess.

12.  Positive people can lift your mood and help you focus on staying
positive
 Meet with people who have same interests as you – a group, club,
church, meeting, sports
 Eliminate or cut down on time spent with negative people (may be
hard with close family or friends but do the best you can)
 Develop a positive perspective and then influence any negative
people you come in contact with
Can you think of any people who have a positive influence on you?
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH
POSITIVE PEOPLE

13.  Read inspirational books
 Listen to upbeat, happy music
 Watch family, funny movies on TV
 Put up comforting, colourful pictures or poster with
motivational sayings
 Have comfortable furniture and colourful decorations
 Get a pet (if you like animals)
Name some positive things that you could surround
yourself with?
SURROUND YOURSELF WITH
POSITIVE THINGS

14.  Go to spots that are warm and friendly
 Enjoy the beauty in nature
 Meet a friend for coffee
 Take your family out to dinner
 Avoid dark, dangerous places
Name some positive places that you enjoy going to.
BE IN POSITIVE PLACES