Sticks and Stones

... may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

I probably used the above saying dozens of times when I was a child.  Today I still agree with it UNLESS it is my internal voice talking.

Why is it when someone says something negative about you, it makes you upset because you know it is not true or you don’t want to believe it? However, if it is your internal voice saying it, you tend to believe it?

Internal dialogue can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It can be uplifting and supportive or destructive.  The choice is ours to make because the good thing about your internal voice is it can be controlled and refocused. A mentor and friend once told me, “You can wash away those negative thoughts with a simple ‘whoosh’. Then you can replace those thoughts with positive, reinforcing ones.  I know, it sounds silly and too simple.  Yet, it works!

As we learn to live with Kennedy’s Disease, it is important to control and refocus any negative thoughts. Self-doubt and guilt can rule your life if you don’t take charge and shut those voices down.

When a negative thought comes into our lives, we can either be the victim or the creator of a new thought:

• Victim ... Blaming, complaining, making excuses, believing it is true
• Creator ... Taking positive action, seeking solutions, experimenting (trying something new), ridding ourselves of negative thoughts and replacing them with constructive ones

What I am asking today is the next time you are feeling a little down and that nagging voice in your head just won’t shut up, recognize that you can either accept the negative thoughts or change them. In other words, ‘WHOOSH’ the negative thoughts away and replace them with something positive and realistic.

Examples:

• Replace “I can’t” with “I will find a way.”
• Replace “Why me?” or “This can’t be happening to me” with “I can live with this” or “I can make this work.”
• Replace “If I am this weak now, what will I be like in a year or five years” with “What can I do today to help offset this weakness?” or “I am going to take this one day at a time.”
• Replace “There is no hope” with “Researchers throughout the world are trying to find a treatment.”
• Replace “There is no way I can exercise every other day” with “I am going to make time to exercise today.” (Then two days from now say it again)

The key is to find the right words (your words) that will motivate you to consider something other than the negative.  It might take a few attempts, but the results could be life changing.

Besides, what can it hurt to try?