Do you want to feel better fast? Think you have to lose weight to do that? Think again!
I'm going to show you how to feel good about yourself in just a few minutes. How? By changing the way you talk to yourself.
Sticks and stones can break bones and words CAN hurt. When you change the way you talk to yourself and about yourself, I guarantee you'll feel better.
The first word is, BUT. I’m not talking anatomically, like, “I can't believe the size of my butt.”. I mean it as in, “I got the promotion, but that was just because I worked so hard. If I were really smart I wouldn’t have to do that.”
“I feel good today. But that could change tomorrow.”
“I'm so proud of myself for buying a house. But other people have bigger, better, more expensive houses.”
This word, and the sentences that follow it, usually undo any good feelings you have about yourself. Instead of cutting down on carbs or changing things in your diet, try eliminating this word from your vocabulary.
Then you’re left with:
I got the promotion. I feel good today. I'm so proud of myself for buying a house.
And that feels a lot better, doesn’t it?
Next word is, CAN'T.
Think of the word “can” (as in the verb): “I can” brings to mind possibility, things that can happen, good things, positive things. When your thoughts are along the lines of, “I can do this, I can be happy, I can have a good day, a good life, I can get this job, a can meet someone wonderful, I can have a good and happy life,” you feel good.
But put an “NOT” at the end of the word “CAN”, or make it a contraction, and you have CANNOT or CAN’T – a word that instantly makes you feel bad: “ I can’t eat that. I can’t lose weight. I can’t stay on my eating plan. I can’t take care of myself.”
Depressing. Eliminate the word “can’t” from your vocabulary, unless it’s along the lines of, “I can’t be mean to myself because I don’t deserve it.”
As Henry Ford once famously said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Last word: dumb-stupid-idiot: Okay, those are actually three different words but they’re often used together when you talk to yourself, as in, “You dumb-stupid-idiot, how could you eat that?” or, “I can’t believe I went off my diet. I’m such a stupid-dumb-idiot.”
Ouch.
If a friend of yours said, “I can’t believe I ate all those cookies,” what would say to your friend? Would you say, “What’s with you, you dumb-stupid-idiot?”
Or would you say, “Hey, don’t beat yourself up. What’s going on? Talk to me.”
There’s a great quote, don't know who said it, but it goes like this: “If you talked to your friends the way you talk to your body, you’d have no friends left.”
Kind of says it all, doesn’t it? So the next time you’re beating yourself up for what you ate, what you didn’t eat, what you weigh, how you didn’t exercise… STOP!!
If you wouldn’t say it to a friend, or to a child, than do NOT say it to yourself.
When you take off the weight of the word, you’re likely to feel better. When you feel better, you aren't as likely to use food to cope.
And that's how you win the diet war.
