Does this sound familiar? “I don’t like my butt, so I feel very self conscious sticking it out.” I can’t tell you how many times I hear those words. Can’t blame them, I totally relate. I struggle daily with similar negative “self trash talk”. We’re either built that way or conditioned by society. Or maybe a little bit of both? Not sure how we’ve gotten to this dark place of self loathing, but here are 5 ways to help improve the way you feel about yourself that stick.1.) Become AWARE of your thoughts and feelings. We have two basic choices. Positive or negative thoughts. Whenever a feeling like frustration, resentment, anger, impatience or hostility comes up, identify it. Recognizing what’s going on is the first step to changing your feelings.
2.) Press the RE-SET button. Even if you don't believe you have the power to cancel your negative thoughts/feelings, pause just for a second after you become aware of the bad thought, imagine a reset button in your brain and press it.
3.) Replace the negative thought with a believable POSITIVE one. One sure way to start changing the way you feel about something you’re not happy with, is to say you’re “in the process of” becoming the opposite of what you don’t like. For example, when the thought that I’ve got a big butt comes into my brain, I press the reset button in my brain and then replace it with the thought “I’m in the process of shaping my butt to look great in my skinny jeans.” That’s believable. Your brain and emotions can wrap around that feeling much more than one that’s unrealistic.
4.) Stay away from negative Nelli’s. Being around energy sucking negative people only adds fuel to the negative self talk party in your head. Minimize your time around those folks and watch how your mind chatter improves.
5.) Stop comparing your body to other people’s. This is a really tough one because most of us have been doing this since childhood. We’re all different. Accept that. Love what you have and appreciate what they have. Don’t compare apples and oranges.
Eliminating all negative self talk is virtually impossible. We’re human. However, our self esteem is a work in progress that we can improve one positive thought at a time.