How you speak to yourself can greatly influence not only what you believe but what you achieve.
As children of God, we have incredible divine potential. Our Heavenly Father sees it; we need to see it in ourselves too. Having a negative mindset can damage all areas of our lives. The way we speak to ourselves influences what we believe, how we act, and what we accomplish.
PHOTO BY IAN STAUFFER
In his BYU devotional titled “The Power of Your Words,” Dr. Craig L. Manning explains how we can overcome self-doubt by being kinder and more encouraging when we speak to ourselves. Dr. Manning gives specific examples of how to change self-talk from negative to positive. As a young BYU student, he found himself saying, “School is tough; BYU is too hard for me.” After recognizing his negative phrase, he would then replace that negative thought with “I’ve got this; I can get good grades.” Changing self-talk can be as simple as replacing those negative thoughts with internal talk that we are more than capable of achieving what we set out to accomplish.
While Dr. Manning emphasized that making this change from a negative mindset to a positive one is important, how and why does positive self-talk work? Speaking on what he explains is the law of occupied space, Dr. Manning says, “This law states that an object can occupy one place at a time. As it applies to the mind, both faith and fear, self-belief and self-doubt, or simply positive and negative thoughts cannot occupy the mind at the same time.” As we condition our minds to replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and as we replace doubt and fear with faith, we can change our perspective and continue on our journey of improving ourselves and reaching our divine potential.
For more inspiration and ideas on how to achieve a positive mindset, read or watch Dr. Craig L. Manning’s devotional “The Power of Your Words.”
Source: BYU Speeches
—Talia Erickson, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY sydney Rae
Find more insights
Take a look at Emma Saavedra’s Latter-day Saint Insights article “Imposter Syndrome: Three Steps to Kicking Doubt to the Curb” to learn more about overcoming doubt.
Read more about having faith in the future by reading “Faith in the Future,” a Latter-day Saint Insights article by Kate Davis.