The Constant Chit Chat in Your Mind

Here's something we know is there but we don't acknowledge it.

There is a constant stream of chit chat going on in your mind. It's incessant. It's always there. It's ongoing and its virtually never ending.

Whether you like it or not, it's there and it will keep on going. Basically you can't turn it off. At the end of the day it's you talking to - well you!

The trouble is, we often just let it drone on. This voice is so much a part of our lives that we almost forget that it's there. Sometimes we acknowledge it but do so almost with a shrug of our shoulders and the thought that there's nothing we can do about it.

The real problem is we don't often think about what it is and what it's saying. Because we believe we're so helpless in stopping it we don't clue in to what this voice really is.

As a result: We fail to realize that we do have some control over it

We often think that the voice is us talking to ourselves. That's only part of the story. It's actually our assumptions and habits talking to us. It's also the messages that our friends and families have drilled into us over the years. Every time they talk to us we take it in and eventually it gets added to the language of this tape machine playing constantly in our mind.

I guess your question (quite rightly) is "so what?" and also "what's this got to do with me being successful at losing weight this time"

The voice controls how you think either about everything or about certain things. It could be saying "You don't really need that extra piece of Pizza - have some water instead. It's okay you can refuse it" It could be saying "oh here we go. You know you don't want the pizza, but you're going to grab it aren't you? Jeez have you no self control? It's no wonder to can't stick to a diet".

What it says dictates (and I mean dictates) how you feel about yourself. And how you feel about yourself controls your level of success or failure, especially when you're changing your behavior in areas like diet.

So firstly I want you to acknowledge that the voice is there. Secondly I want you to listen to what it's got to say. Listen to the words it's using. Is it telling you you're fantastic or is it picking holes in everything you do? Is it using different words depending on what you're doing and how does it talk to you when you're thinking about your diet or setting New Year resolutions.

Don't worry I'm going to go over this some more so you can learn to change the voice in your head to help you.