Check the Inside Voice
Published on December 18, 2011
It is difficult to quantify thought. Where does it originate? What causes it and what is the exact mechanism responsible for thought? Science truly does not have a firm understanding or answer to these challenging questions but what I know is that the output of thought is "the voice" we hear in our heads everyday. It is interesting that we are counseled and trained since we first learn to speak as to proper etiquette and expectations of the structure of society. "When addressing adults we were told years ago you were to say Mr. or Ms or Mrs. When asking for or given something we were taught to say please and thank you". If you have small children you know that it likely takes a thousand reminders to cause this to switch to autopilot and become a behavior. I think then that we are all in agreement that we are taught how to monitor and modify our speaking voice. What gets little or no attention is the importance of monitoring our inner voice or thoughts. While it is not possible to stand guard over the 60,000 thoughts on average we have each day, there are specific examples of self-talk or thoughts that are worth guarding over. A great example was an important meeting I had scheduled for this past Monday that I was preparing for and looking forward to for some time. On Monday morning I received an e-mail that my contact was ill and could not make the meeting. I have heard the normal reaction from many clients many times to a situation such as. They would say, "I had a big meeting scheduled and they cancelled". To which I would respond. "So you are never going to see them again?" "No, I have to re-schedule. I was just really looking forward to it". There is the answer then. They did not "cancel", the meeting was merely time shifted to another day. Words then to watch out for from out inner voice are words like these. "Cancelled, failure, not working, why me?" or the favourite of most negative talk inner voices, "can't". The repetition of this negative self-talk will over time present itself as your reality. Thoughts create things. Make certain the thoughts you harbor will create what you do want rather than what you don't. Do this often. Check the voice inside. How often to you talk yourself out of doing what you know is right? Have an excellent day.
