Do you know how to stop negative self-talk? C’mon, you know what I mean! Some of the things we tell ourselves are not kind.
Let me jog your memory. Here are some negative self-talk examples: “You look so fat,” “No one loves you,” “You’re not pretty,” “You are so stupid,” or “No one cares about you.” It’s that negative self-talk you do daily that no one knows about. Your dirty little secret.
I find it peculiar we would never say these horrible phrases to anyone else (well, I hope not), yet we use negative self-talk with ourselves.
That nasty tape running through our heads day in and day out telling us we are nothing or that we shouldn’t even exist.
Why would we want to do this to ourselves? Furthermore, why do we struggle with giving ourselves positive self-talk?
In this post, we are going to talk about the lies we tell ourselves using negative self-talk, and how to stop negative self-talk using scriptures. Using the Word of God is a great way to break strongholds and rewire your mind permanently.
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What is Negative Self-Talk?
Negative self-talk can be defined as a negative tape running through your brain that is self-defeating. Over time it may limit your ability to believe in yourself and reach your potential. It is a type of self-hate.
We internally bombard ourselves with destructive words, thinking it will make us different in the future.
Last I checked, trashing other people never made them change. So why would trashing ourselves improve our behavior? Terrible logic, in my opinion.
And that is my point…this is not logical at all. It’s emotional.
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When Did the Negative Self-Talk Start?
If you are dealing with negative self-talk, chances are the lies started early in your life and have kept snowballing as you have aged.
Moreover, it probably started when you were rejected by others at home, at school, on the field, or at some other significant time in your life.
Perhaps it was your parents who didn’t have time for you, a sibling who hated you, or the kids at school who said cruel things without thought. I’m guessing it made it worse if what they said was somewhat true about you. In fact, you were a bit pudgy, your sibling didn’t always like you, you weren’t an “A” student, or you weren’t amazing at sports.
Sadly, you felt powerless to change your circumstances so you attached your value or worth to those hurtful words. It became truth to you but not the whole truth…which is actually a lie. Don’t beat yourself up. This happens to a lot of people.
As a result, you carried those mantras into adulthood. And now it is with you all the time. Consequently, you believe you are not loved, not valued, or ever going to be good enough or smart enough to do whatever.
You believed your value and worth were based on what others said about you instead of what God says about you.
But the real truth is that only God can define your identity because He is the only one who truly knows ALL of you. If you want to learn how to stop negative self-talk, it is time to start believing what God says about you.
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How Does Negative Self-Talk Affect Us?
Negative self-talk can affect us long-term in many ways. Chances are those old lies that are entrenched into your brain (neuropathways) for years are causing you harm. Sadly, you may have given some misinformed person too much control over your life.
Kind of maddening, huh?
To think you actually gave that person who rejected you the right to define who you are as a person when he didn’t know the whole truth.
Perhaps you know this and have already tried a thousand times to change your thinking only to fail miserably every single time.
In fact, you’re sick and tired of trying to change your thought life and failing.
Furthermore, the failure reinforces the lies you already believe. It’s a vicious cycle. I know, I have been there many times. It is frustrating.
Don’t worry. There is hope if you want to know how to stop negative self-talk.
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How to Stop Negative Self-Talk Using Scripture
If you want to know how to stop negative self-talk, then check out these six tips.
It is time to kick those other people out of your brain and start thinking the way God thinks about you. Here is what I have done and it has worked very well. Perhaps it will help you too.
1. Acknowledge you are struggling with negative self-talk and commit to changing your behavior
Realize you have hard-wired yourself into a self-defeating mantra that has been going on for probably decades. In order to stop it, you have to admit what you are doing doesn’t work. They are truly lies.
Furthermore, you need to commit to changing your behavior. No more wallowing, obsessing, or stroking your pain points. You have grieved long enough.
This is the first step to learning how to stop negative self-talk.
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2. Catch yourself and stop it immediately
Next time you start thinking about the lies, stop yourself!
If you are like me, it may take a few minutes before you realize what you are doing because it is an old habit. Once you are able to catch yourself, visualize a big, red stop sign in your brain. The red color should trigger the thought, “Danger! Stop it. Now!.”
Once this happens, you have the choice to consciously continue with the lies and self-pity or stop and replace it with positive self-talk. This is where a lot of people get tripped up. They don’t want to do the work and change their thought patterns. Or stop the self-soothing because they are in so much emotional pain.
They would rather keep on wallowing, obsessing, and stroking the lies. You see, it feels good. Really good.
If you want to know how to stop negative self-talk, then stop yourself before you sink in a black hole.
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3. Choose to change your thoughts
If you want to stop to know how to stop negative self-talk, you are going to have to change your thoughts. This means paving new neuropathways in your brain that have never been there before. Don’t be fooled, this takes hard work, self-reflection, honesty, and a leap of faith.
You can not go back and change the past, but you can go back and tell yourself the truth about the past. Many of you have been living in lies for so long that you don’t even know the truth. This is where the reprogramming starts.
4. Write down the lies using a negative self-talk worksheet
Create a negative self-talk worksheet. Write down every lie you have believed on the left side of the page. This is your chance to call the devil out and catch him in his dirty tricks. It’s actually kind of fun to do this.
It’s an opportunity to right all the wrongs in your life. It may take weeks to identify them all. That’s okay. You have been believing them for a lifetime so take your time.
5, Find a scripture to combat each lie with the truth
On the right side of your negative self-talk worksheet, write down scripture to combat each lie. Then write the scriptures down on notecards. Read the truth (scripture) every day, several times a day, out loud if possible. Using these daily affirmations of positive self-talk will rewire your brain.
Here is an example of my notecards:
You are creating new neuropathways in your brain and abandoning the old thought patterns you used to have. This is how you stop negative self-talk in your head. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t believe it at first. It’s totally normal. It took me a few months to start believing these positive self-talk affirmations.
If you are a Christian and you are struggling with what God says about you, stand on the Word of God as Truth. This is your plumb line. That’s enough for now.
Trust that you are breaking strongholds in your life when you start speaking verses to yourself. You can even pray these verses and insert your name. If you want to know how to stop negative self-talk, then keep doing this every day.
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6. Believe
This next phase takes great faith. Simply believe God.
It is time to embrace the truth about who you are in Christ and start acting on it using positive self-talk. Believe you are loved, you are precious in God’s sight, He died for you or whatever else you need to internalize as the truth.
Along with believing the truth comes deep introspection. Repentance.
It may mean you need to make amends for how you acted toward others when you believed those lies. Lies are the root of sin. Abuse, addiction, lust, infidelity, greed, etc. may have manifested themselves because of your belief system.
More than anything it means forgiveness. You may need to forgive others, God, and yourself. This is called sweeping your side of the street. Don’t skip this as it is part of the healing process.”Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NIV).
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How Do I Improve My Self-Talk?
If you want to improve your self-talk, then give yourself grace. There are days when you are going to want to slide back into believing the lies. It especially rears its ugly head when you are tired, upset with others, or feeling angry at yourself or God.
You may jump into the lies and roll in the mud again. Perhaps you will be tempted to self-sabotage even though you know the truth.
Afterward, the guilt hits.
When this happens, go back to positive self-talk using scripture. And then get back up and keep fighting. You may need an accountability partner to help you stay out of the lies. Or find a counselor if you are stuck.
My prayer is you find wholeness and start believing the positive self-talk with scripture.
God wants you to give complete control to Him. Let Him define your identity instead of some person who doesn’t know who you really are as a child of God. Believe in God’s word and act on it as truth in your life.
Did you learn how to stop negative self-talk? What do you do? Comment below.
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Thank you so much for this! I loved this!
Rachel, thanks for your comment. I am glad it was helpful. I have found self-talk to be a difficult thing to conquer, but having scriptures in front of me to remind me of the truth really helps.
Great stuff! This topic is a big passion of mine too! I will add to your great points that taking captive our thoughts is a spiritual battle, not just will power. We have to reject the bad thoughts in Jesus’ name. Sometimes it’s helpful to ask God why we are thinking those negative thoughts too. He might remind us of a time in our past where we started believing these lies about ourselves… then He can go in and heal that wound. Blessings!
Heather, this is so true. It is a spiritual battle. Many times those lies start early in our lives before we understand who we are in Christ or have a chance to even understand the truth. It is important to go back and figure out where and when it started so we can defeat the original lies.
Really great tips: “Catch it and stop it immediately!” Love that. Thanks for sharing these.
Hard to do sometimes too. I may go for an hour or two before I catch what I am doing. Sometimes a couple of days. Eventually, my stubborn brain starts conforming to the word of God. It is hard to give up old habits and have positive self-talk! Thanks for your comments.
I love this! In order for us to have positive self thoughts, we must first change our how and what we think about ourselves! So true!
Anitra, I found this to be what has changed my thinking. Positive self-talk based on scripture is always going to be true. I knew I could count on that since my thinking was so skewed.
5, Find a scripture to combat each lie with the truth. <- i do this a lot and it really helps. I also make a journal of my own thoughts/faith and it helps a lot to look back and read what my struggles were..
Peejay, really great idea. I just found an old journal from about ten years ago. It is fun to see how God brought me through those difficult periods. I was struggling with a health issue and I couldn’t figure out the problem. It was nice to go back and read it knowing the answer. I also read it knowing the answer to my spiritual problem. Positive self-talk using scripture is so helpful to rid the mind of doubt.
#1,2 and 3, I practice regularly. #4 I have not tired. I LOVE #5! Great post! I shared in on my page.
Thanks, Tammy. I am glad these were helpful to you!