Dear Reader:

Have you ever thought about who you talk to the most? Guessing a friend, spouse, family member? Wrong!

The person you most talk to daily is yourself! Want to take a guess at the number of times each day you talk to yourself…try 70,000 self-talk thoughts a day. (…And we wonder why we can’t get anything done?)

And here’s the real “bummer”…80% of them are negative! Out loud we talk the good talk on staying positive and optimistic…while deep down inside we disempower ourselves with self-talk thoughts like “This day started out bad and I am betting it is going downhill from here” or “I am so overwhelmed I just want to crawl back in bed and put the pillow over my head.”

As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” Negative thoughts drag us down to those eventually closest to us…they distract us from our goals and most sadly prevent us from living fulfilling lives filled with joy.

I have noticed that the older I get…the less clutter I want…physically, mentally, or emotionally. We all know how satisfying it is to take on a project like cleaning out drawers, closets, attics, or garages (as much as we hate getting started.) Julia Ubbenga discusses different ways we can declutter our negative self-talk thoughts .

I really like this first one we can do first thing every morning. One suggestion is that when we pass the bathroom mirror…pretend to wipe our hand in front of it to signify that we’re wiping away any “fog of self-doubt” and are fully confident in our ability to tackle and handle the day.

When we tell ourselves the day will be a great one…we are more likely to meet or even surpass these goals…if our first thoughts are negative it will take work to pull back up to a good place during the day.

Cows ruminate but humans shouldn’t…when we let go of untrue, self-talk negativity our ability to stay present returns…over-thinking on the negative steals our joy.

Before going to bed each night think of three things you are grateful for about yourself. When we label good things about ourselves…we actually become these good things.

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh