Where to Start in Helping Others?

We can start with ourselves and then teach others!

FIVE-POINT PROGRAM FOR USING SELF-TALK

Specifically the method outline is:

• First a person should carefully practice listening to themselves.

They should note and study with meticulous attention every comment they make, so that they might become fully conscious of the amazing number of doleful and negative remarks they are constantly uttering.

We should never talk without listening, appraising, dissecting our remarks. We are not going to enjoy this for it will be a ruthless self-revelation and not a pleasant one, but it will be a primary step. We should listen with our ears and our whole mind to the depressing stuff we are articulating all day.

• Second, we should start being absolutely honest so that when we hear ourselves making a negative statement we should ask ourselves: "Now look, do I honestly believe what I am saying or am I actually mouthing negativisms that I do not really believe at all?

• Third, we should adopt the practice of saying exactly the opposite of what we usually say, and we should note how much better the new utterances sound.

We might regard ourselves as a hypocrite in so doing, but hypocrisy would be nothing new. Actually we probably have not been saying what we meant mean for a long time.

As we continue in this new procedure, it will grow ever more exciting to hear words and ideas full of life and hope and expectancy coming from our mouths instead of the old defeatist remarks. We will soon discover that something really exciting is happening to us, namely an upsurge of dynamic enthusiasm. This is the power of good self talk.

• Fourth, we should to keep track of everything that is happening as we work on this new procedure, carefully noting and computing even the smallest results.

If we had been, for example, in the habit of saying glumly: "Things aren't going to go well today," now ( since we are no longer mouthing negativisms ) we will note that things are much better, as they usually are. We are to admit honestly that we had in fact expected them to go well, but now we are no longer lying to ourselves concerning our expectations. We aren’t afraid any longer to expect the best.

• Fifth, we are to practice putting the best construction on every person and every action each day.

This is one of the most exciting of all personal development practices. It is all about how we talk to ourselves!