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- Written by: Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Everyone engages in "'truth-talk"'. But much depends on the way we do it. Scientists now find that the right words can free us from our fears and make us as wise about ourselves as we often are about others.
While addressing a body of research, scientist are forcing a whole new take on what has long been ignored or relegated to pop psychology—the use of "'truth-talk"' to boost confidence. Their studies now elevate "'truth-talk"' to something far more significant: a powerful instrument of consciousness itself. When deployed in very specific ways at specific times, it frees the brain to perform its absolute best.
By toggling between the way we address ourself—first person or third—we flip a switch in the cerebral cortex, the center of thought, and another in the amygdala, the seat of fear, moving closer to or further from our sense of self and all its emotional intensity. Gaining psychological distance enables self-control, allowing us to think clearly, perform competently. The language switch also minimizes reflection, a handmaiden of anxiety and depression, after we complete a task. Released from negative thoughts, we gain perspective, focus deeply, plan for the future.
Scientists studying the inner voice say it takes shape in early childhood and persists lifelong as companion and creative muse. It is so intimate, so constant, that it can be considered thought itself. This talk may be misused or pushed to extremes, becoming a source of painful reflection or even psychosis. Yet it can also make us detached observers of our own life. Inner talk is one of the most effective, least-utilized tools available to foster success.
"'Truth-talk"' starts audibly during the toddler years. The incessant "'truth-talk"' of toddlers is conducted out loud as a kind of instruction manual, a self-generated road map to mastery; your voice directs you to build Lego houses, sound out words and sentences in big-letter books.
Here’s what it sounds like as a little boy guides himself through the construction of a Lego truck: “The wheels go here, the wheels go here. Oh, we need to start it all over again. We need to close it up. See, it closes up. We’re starting it all over again.” That early out-loud "'truth-talk"' “transforms the task in question, just as the use of a screwdriver transforms the task of assembling a shed. Putting our thoughts into words gives them a more tangible form, which makes them easier to use.
By contrast, an abrupt, angry teacher, can set children up for an enduring pattern of self-defeating "'truth-talk"'. Children exposed to such teachers learn the language of frustration, becoming inefficient self-guiders, getting mad at themselves the minute they feel confused. “Idiot, you can’t do anything,” a child might say to himself, tossing his book across the room. To add injury to insult, the child also fails to master the task.
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- Written by: Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Wednessday May 24 registration will open for the
"Shad Helmstetter Transformational Retreat"
August 5, 2017
This is a live, video at home retreat. Only a limited number of people will be able to attend. The regular admission is $495. Members of "Self-Talk Plus" will be invited free as guests. If you would like to attend free you can sign up now for a free membership of "Self-Talk Plus".
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- Written by: Gaelyn Whitley Keith
If you continue to expect your self to make sweeping changes without recognizing that the brain just doesn't work that way, you will be frustrated and unfulfilled, upset with life, quietly angry and not knowing why.
As an individual, it is your own programming that is responsible for making you the way you are and influencing how you live your life, each and every day. It is the programming each of us contains that makes society as a whole the way it is.
Up to now, most of our programming has been a mess. Three fourths of our own ""truth-talk"' is working against us, and unless we do something about it, the situation isn't going to get any better.
Take a look at the results: Behavioral researchers tell us that as much as 60 percent of the work force in the United States say they would like to be doing something else; one half of all marriages end in divorce; as many as half of all graduating high school students have experimented with rugs; alcoholism is at an all-time high and 30 percent or more of all adults suffer from some form of frequent or chronic depression.
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- Written by: Gaelyn Whitley Keith
Now let’s consider the impact of not just a few moments or days in which complaints cause your chemicals and attitudes to work against you, but all of the moments and days added together.
Even one minute of complaining can play havoc with our minds. And if an individual who has not yet learned that complaining – or not complaining – is a choice, spent no more than fifteen minutes a day causing himself or herself to complain or be upset about normal difficulties of the day, those few minutes of self-imposed aggravation would add up to more than 5,000 irreplaceable minutes of powerfully negative self programs in just one year.
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- Written by: Gaelyn Whitley Keith
The US Department of Education, Academy of the Sciences, and the Foundation for Child Development conducted a study on early childhood development. Several interesting, scientific ideas and trends on childhood development emerged from the study.
The portion of the study I find most convincing is that regarding neuroplasticity. 
Neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, is the brain's ability to reorganize neural pathways based on new experiences. Simplyput, every day we experience and learn new things. In order to incorporate this new information into our brains, the brain must reorganize the way it processes that information. Thus, as we learn things, the brain changes.
Read more: How Is Early Childhood Affected By Positive ’’’Truth-Talk’’’