Discover 5 simple actions you can take now to send your critical inner voice on vacation and go from stress and negativity to joyful living and loving.
In my radio interview of Robert C. Jameson, a marriage and family therapist for 20 years who wrote the book, The Keys To Joy-Filled Living, Robert explains why stress or joy is a choice you make each day. You can choose joy in your relationships and in every aspect of your life with this 5-step action plan.
Stop Negative Self Talk And Go From Stress to Joy In 5 Steps
Step 1. Awareness
You can’t change anything until you become aware of your negative self talk, thoughts and actions that block joy and keep you stressed.
It takes consistent, conscious effort to notice each time you choose a fearful, negative or stressful thought. With this awareness, you instantly move to:
Step 2. Acknowledgment
You don’t beat yourself up for negativity. Instead you say this affirmation to yourself: Thank you for being aware that I’m thinking negative thoughts.
Expressing gratitude injects positive, loving feelings and reminds you that you deserve to feel healthy self love. This opens your heart for:
Step 3. Acceptance
Say this affirmation to yourself: I forgive myself for (fill in the critical behavior like judging myself, being afraid, for thinking negative thoughts, etc.)
Forgiveness is another loving gift that you give yourself, and it frees you emotionally for:
Step 4. Commitment
You say this affirmation to yourself: Next time, I’ll do better.
You understand there’s no need to be perfect and there will be a next time for negative thinking. You only have to commit to the gradual process of changing your thinking so you eventually create a new habit of choosing joy over stress.
This is a good time to imagine ways you can do better. Come up with positive things you can say to yourself. Become a hero in your imagination so you consistently see yourself winning instead of losing. With your commitment in place, you take the final step:
Step 5. Action
Instantly take action to implement the alternatives you’d just imagined. Replacing negative, fearful, stressed thoughts with positive actions will become a new habit after a month of consistently taking these 5 steps. When you make this a life-long habit, you will continue to choose joy every day.
How do you use this process to improve relationships?
Negative thoughts and actions often destroy relationships. When you become aware of your negative thoughts and actions directed toward your date or mate, you can take these 5 steps to see the positives, to keep falling in love with your partner and to take consistent positive actions needed to create a happy relationship.
What if you’re afraid you can’t do this?
Be aware that you are creating your negative outcome in your imagination. You can change your thinking and choose to become a winner in your imagination when you understand what fear is.
Fear is another common negative emotion you feel when you don’t know what will happen next. It is usually fear of the unknown, so familiarity relieves fear.
You will feel familiar with this process when you continuously and consciously commit to taking these 5 steps every time you catch yourself choosing a negative thought or action.
Ideally, you will use these 5 steps to replace fear, stress and negativity with joy in your relationship with yourself, with others and in every aspect of your life.
Get all the happy sexy love you desire,
Hadley Finch