I had a parental “preaching” moment the other day that came back full circle to me as a self “teaching” moment.
After listening to all the negative statements coming from my teen daughter for the ump-teenth time, I shared with her that I was around her age when it occurred to me that I was against so many things that I didn’t know what I was for anymore, and it was at that time that I started making a conscious effort to have more words of positivity come out of my mouth than the negative ones. I wanted to create a balance in favor of the good and I knew it could only come from within. Decades later, I still strive for this in every interaction I have.
Later that night I relayed my soapbox moment with my sponsor and she very kindly pointed out to me that I don’t, in fact, follow this in every interaction. When it comes to the way I speak to myself, my internal dialogue.. it’s skewed far more towards the negative. Why has it not been important to me all along to practice the same objectivity and benefit-of-the-doubt mindset with myself as it is externally? Dang, this seems like it should be so obvious but it wasn’t apparent to me until that simple conversation. It’s been only a few days now of shifting my internal dialogue but I already feel such a difference in my mental health.
