Knowing Your Brain Lingo Style
When your brain offers you negative thoughts, it won’t typically sound like, “Oh dear, you’re not doing very well today.”
It’s more likely something along the lines of, “You’re a disgusting troll who should live under a bridge and never be seen.”
(No? Just me?)
Or maybe…“You’re a fat slob. Get your act together.”
Or perhaps…“Way to go champ. You looked like a complete moron.”
Or simply…“Why the he** did you say that?”
Or…“This is so freaking hard!”
Maybe your brain speaks to you more kindly or with better grammar or is sarcastic.
Regardless, knowing the style of and actual wording of the verbiage in your brain matters.
Why?
Stay with me through this next bit. It’s a tad boring but I’m going to give examples after.
Your thoughts create your emotions and there are certain words and word combinations that your brain associates with particular emotions, some of which are causing you unnecessary suffering.
If you can isolate the thought that is creating the feeling/suffering in your body, then you can adapt the thought to one that serves you better.
BUT if you’re adapting it in a style that your brain doesn’t relate to, changing your emotions and actions won’t be as easy as if you you knew the slang of your brain:).
Example:
You notice you’re experiencing the feeling of shame or disgust. Next, you ask yourself, “What was I just thinking that made me feel that?”
You realize you were thinking something along the lines of, “I’m fat.”
BUT in reality your brain worded it as, “You’re a fat disgusting mess.”
Thinking “I’m fat” doesn’t recreate the same emotion or intensity of emotion as “You’re a fat disgusting mess.”
Once you’ve determined that “You’re a fat disgusting mess,” is what created shame or disgust in you, recognize all the drama and exaggeration in that statement and talk back to your brain in the lingo it understands.
Instead of simply thinking, “I’m not that fat or my size doesn’t matter,” which will likely be ineffective in shifting to a more useful emotion…
Try something like…
Try something along the lines of, “Woah Tiger, take it easy. I’m not disgusting. I’m just a human with some extra fat on my body and I feel a bit off my A-game today but that doesn’t mean anything’s gone wrong. Parts of my life are messy and that’s okay. So let’s take a breath, drink some water, turn on some music, and see what the rest of the day has in store.”
And lastly, Get curious about the way your brain talks to you and what emotions certain verbiage in your mind creates.
Play around with effective ways of talking back to your brain in order to create more useful emotions that fuel better actions.
What problematic or limiting thoughts has your brain been offering you lately? Hit reply to let me know and I’ll send you some thoughts to try instead.
Or you can click here and be coached for free on a consult call.
Xo,
Jody