February 2021 Newsletter

Hello, and a fun-loving February to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. Today's issue is about talking to ourselves, ideally with kindness. Enjoy!

We're with ourselves all day long, every day. Are you your favorite companion and cheerleader, or your own harshest critic? The empty speech bubbles in the drawing to the left could be filled with negativity, like "I'm so stupid!" when you make a silly mistake, or with friendly encouragement and support. It's your choice.

Our self-talk can be so automatic, we're not even aware what we're saying. It's like we're running on autopilot, or stuck in the same thought loop that keeps repeating. Maybe whenever the topic of finances comes up, your first knee-jerk thought is "I've always been bad with money". Or if the discussion is about health and fitness, that triggers an internal reaction of "I'll never lose enough weight to look attractive".

If you catch yourself saying "always" or "never" about yourself or your abilities, I invite you to challenge that. Absolute statements like "I'll never be able to ...." put an artificial limit on us, so we don't explore possibilities that could allow us to break through that boundary. If you'd love to have a male romantic partner, yet keep saying "there are no good men out there", you're defeating yourself before you go on any dates, since you're expecting them to turn out poorly. You're proving the self-talk right.

My personality is prone to worry, and I also tend to rush when it's not needed, and to try too hard, often exerting way more physical or mental effort than a task requires. In an attempt to counteract these patterns, I've developed the habit of chanting to myself "Easy and gentle, easy and gentle", especially when I'm driving. You've probably seen the bumper sticker that says "Easy Does It!", which could have been written especially for me.

This soothing self-talk mantra grew out of my realizing that I formerly told myself to hurry up, or when driving to be on High Alert and "watch out for the other guy". I was expecting problems and interruptions, which is not a peaceful way to proceed through Life. Recently I told a wise friend that I had 2 new classes starting, feeling like my plate was too full. The friend, who also loves to learn, replied "How exciting!". I thought "What a great attitude!" to myself. He was looking at the opportunity, while I was focused on the time management challenge.

The image above delights me, a woman being comforted by words. Since I was very young I have loved to read and to write, and it makes me feel even better when my words can enlighten or soothe someone else. What a super-power we all have, to use our words to motivate and to otherwise help ourselves. Are you making full use of your super-power? Choose your words of self-talk wisely, because your whole being is listening.

For an article on self-talk about eyes and vision, click here.

Have you wondered if my work could help you?
I'm now offering complimentary Discovery Session consultations of 20 minutes or so, for us to discuss what you're looking for in a coach, and to see whether you and I feel like a fit to work together formally. To schedule your Discovery Session, click here.

Do you want your own copy of future newsletters?
If a friend forwarded this to you, or you're reading it from Facebook or LinkedIn, this is a hit-or-miss method of receiving it, and you might not see it next time. If you'd like to be on my distribution list, you can join here. You can un-subscribe at any time. Thank you!

Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the start of this fantastic month of February. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!