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Opinions of Thursday, 9 April 2020

Columnist: Dr. Annie Gaisie

Change the words you use!

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Have you ever used the following?

“This circumstance is just impossible.”

“I always fail anyway.”

“I’ll try but it won’t work out”.

If you answered yes, then don’t worry. Many of us sabotage ourselves with negative self-talk, but it might be having a bigger impact on our minds than we think. Our subconscious mind interprets what we say very literally.

In other words, our mind tends to follow the words we say. Using words like “never” or “impossible ” is influencing our mindset.

However, we have the ability to change our brains with ongoing practice on how we use our speech.

Basic ways to change our negative language:

1. Begin monitoring your language

Notice when you say something limiting or negative. After you’ve recognized that it is negative, ask yourself how you can reframe it so that it’s more optimistic and positive.

Eg, if you say “you’ll never be able to get that pay increase ”, change it to, “I’ll try my best, work hard, and hopefully, I might be able to get that increment.”

2. Ask someone else to monitor your language

Sometimes we don’t always catch our negativity, and it can help to have a second pair of ears monitoring when we are complaining or being negative.

You can even have a bet with your friend. Tell them that you’ll drop a set money in a jar every single time they catch you complaining. There’s nothing quite like losing money to change your mindset!

In the end, the first step to changing your language is observing and recognizing it for what it is.

With practice, you’ll be able to replace language that is negative, limiting and imprecise with positive, specific and declarative statements.

A positive mindset is very healthy. Let's start training our brain, it is possible.


By: Dr. Annie Gaisie, Psychologist - Addictive Behaviour.

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