Are you often bothered, kept awake, or troubled by negative thoughts that you can't seem to avoid? What goes through your mind when it is not occupied with a specific task? In other words, WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? The answer is often referred to as SELF-TALK.

Development of some of our tendencies toward self-talk begin during childhood, when many of life’s perceptions and attitudes are formed. Other adaptations occur throughout life, especially around significant events which invoke intense emotional responses. These emotions may reflect immense pleasure or happiness, yet others indicate immeasurable pain, sorrow, or regret.

I compare the resulting self-talk to the default on a computer. Just as the computer reverts to the default automatically, our self-talk similarly becomes an automatic response. It becomes the precursor to success and happiness or toward self-sabotage, failure, and hopelessness. Understand that even if a negative mindset becomes the prevalent default in your thought process, it can be challenged, positive thought (self-talk) can be consistently learned and practiced, and the defeatist default can be reversed, allowing future success and happiness. Remember, what your mind focuses on, visualizes, and then is reinforced by strong emotions, is what you will communicate, move toward in your behavior, and can eventually become your reality. WILL THAT REALITY BE POSITIVE AND FULFILLING OR NEGATIVE AND REGRETFUL?