Negative Self Talk — Morning Devotions

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The answer – It’s called over generalisation drawing these sweeping conclusions purely based on one incidence or event. You go to work each day. Generally, you’re happy, productive. But this one day that you make a mistake. I made a mistake at work today. I always mess up everything. No, this is what’s called negative self-talk, something that we’re probably all guilty of. I know I have. It’s important to recognise these patterns and replace them with more positive and constructive self-talk.

Let me tell you about a young woman named Emily.

Emily had a lot of ambitions in life. She was always striving to achieve her goals. The problem was, she often found herself plagued by negative self-talk that would hold her back from reaching that full potential for herself. Whenever Emily would make a mistake, she would tell herself that she was stupid, that she was never good enough to achieve those goals. And she would often compare herself to others, thinking that everyone else was better than her and that she would never measure up. This negative self-talk started to affect Emily’s mental health. She found herself feeling anxious and depressed, and she struggled to motivate herself to work toward her goals.

And one day she decided to seek help for this negative self-talk. She started seeing a therapist who helped her recognise these patterns, and she learned that negative self-talk is a common problem with many people struggling with it. And Emily began to practice self-compassion and positive self-talk. She learned to recognise her own achievements and strengths rather than focusing solely on her weaknesses. She started to view her failures as opportunities for growth and learning, and over time her negative self-talk became less frequent and good news.

She started to believe in herself again. She was able to achieve these goals and dreams and felt a sense of confidence and fulfilment that she’d never experienced before. The lesson, Emily learned, is that negative self-talk, a powerful obstacle in achieving our goals. You want to live a fulfilling life, stop the negative self-talk. We can learn to overcome it, to cultivate a positive mindset that will help us. It’s that inner voice inside our heads that constantly criticises and puts ourselves down. We’re not good enough or capable enough. And it’s that voice that convinces us we’re not worthy of love or success.

In the Old Testament, we read Psalm 42:5, and one version puts it like this where the writer was having a conversation with himself. Why are you cast down? Oh my inner soul? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me hope in God and wait expectantly for him, For I shall yet praise him – my help and my God. Now some have suggested that this psalm Psalm 42 was written by David when he was driven from Jerusalem during rebellion.

Absalom was David’s son. David was in despair, deeply depressed, and he was having a conversation with himself. Now there’s nothing unusual about that. It’s been estimated that the average person talks to himself or herself 50,000 times a day, and the truth of the matter is that no one does anything without talking to themselves first. Before every decision, we usually have a conversation with ourselves. After every compliment or complaint. We do end up having this conversation,

But what kind of conversation is it?

Well, researchers who have looked into this say that 80% of the conversations we have with ourselves are negative and disempowering. And when we constantly have these types of conversations with ourselves, it’s no wonder that we must constantly have these battles of anxiety and depression because 95% of our emotions are determined by the way we talk to ourselves. The Hebrew word for hope in Psalm 42 Verse five means to wait, to wait with hope and to have hope with a positive expectation. So when you’re feeling down and out, it might be because you’ve been saying the wrong thing to yourself, like David say, I will hope in the Lord.

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Let’s Pray

Yes, Lord, it’s so easy to be down in ourselves to have this negative self-talk. But, Lord, do you want me to be positive? Even in the midst of difficulties? Help me, Lord, today to surround myself with your love and the expectation that even on the bad days, you will bring something good out of them. Amen.