This Journal requires you to reflect on your “self-talk” for at least three (3) days prior to writing your reflection.
Learning to listen to your emotions and using this information to guide your behaviour and decision-making are integral parts of competent, caring communication practices. When individuals have good, healthy self esteem and emotional management, they are able to respond in a respectful, caring and reasonable way to various situations and pressures encountered on the job and in day-to-day life.
Please re-watch “Seven Simple Ways to Boost Your Self Esteem” from Module 1.
As mentioned in this video, self talk – that little voice in our head that “talks” to us – is one of the ways that we build ourselves up or knock ourselves down. Self talk can directly influence our feelings of self worth, competency and self love.
Self talk is also described in Chapter 4 of LOOK: Looking Out, Looking In. Please reread the section on “Managing Difficult Emotions” (pp. 99 – 107 in the 3rd edition, and pp. 101 – 110 in the 4th edition.)
As a way to build and nourish your sense of self, please complete the following exercise on listening and learning from your self talk:
“Listen, Learn and Think it Through”
(Source: Positivepsychology.com)
Step One: Listen
Keep a diary for a few days to a week and take it with you everywhere you go. Pay close attention to your self-talk and make a note of:
• Is it mostly positive or negative?
• What events, people or scenarios encourage positive versus negative self-talk?
• What would a friend or loved one say if they knew you talked to yourself in this way?
• Are there any common threads in your self-talk?
Step Two: Learn
At the end of the week, reflect on what you have written. Think about the following questions:
• What thoughts come up most often?
• Why do they come up?
• How would you feel about yourself if you switched negative self-talk for positive?
• How did negative self-talk hold you back from achieving your goals?
• What might you achieve if you practiced more positive self-talk?
Step Three: Think it Through
To really move negative to positive self-talk, you need to think over why you had the thoughts in the first place and answer honestly about how true these thoughts are. A few questions to use for this final part of the exercise:
• How big of a deal is this really? Might I be overreacting?
• Are my thoughts and conclusions based on facts or opinions? Whose opinions?
• Am I guessing at information and making assumptions?
• How accurate is this thought really?
Please note:
For this assignment, you do not need to answer all the questions. You do need to summarize the results of your reflections, however, for each of the three steps:
1. Listen: Listen to your self talk for three to seven days
2. Learn: Reflect on what you have learned
3. Think it Through: Challenge Your Beliefs and Assumptions
Minimum word count: 200 words
