Dear Friends,
I was sitting in the living room the other day when I thought I heard Bonnie talking in the kitchen. I decided to investigate. “Turning the corner, I asked, “Do you need me or are you just talking to yourself?”
She spun around, smiled, and responded authoritatively, “I am talking to myself so quit interrupting!”
Do you ever talk to yourself? You’re not alone. An article posted on the Live Science website detailed some of the benefits of self-directed speech. “Self-directed speech,” the article indicated, “can help guide children’s behavior, with kids often taking themselves step-by-step through tasks such as tying their shoelaces, as if reminding themselves to focus on the job at hand.”
Researchers also found self-directed speech helped people find objects somewhat more quickly. If talking to myself will help me to learn a new task or to find my missing car keys, it might be worth the potential embarrassment of having people think I’m nuts.
I am in the habit of talking out my problems. When I had to assemble cabinets for the garage, it was very helpful for me to carry on a conversation with myself about which way each particular board had to be joined to another and which size screw needed to be used with each different type of hardware. What wasn’t helpful was when my conversation turned into a self-critique of my very limited mechanical skills.
Next question: Do you ever beat up on yourself with self-directed speech?
Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.
Proverbs 18:21 (MSG)
Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.
Proverbs 21:23 (NIV)
“If you talked to your friends like you talk to yourself, you wouldn’t have any friends.” Mike Cernovich – in the book Gorilla Mindset
Perhaps we should apply the reverse of the Golden Rule: Do unto yourself as you would have done unto others. Writer Lisa Hayes put it this way, “Be careful how you are talking to yourself because you are listening.”
When we hear ourselves muttering negative self-talk, it’s time to interrupt and make two changes.
(1) Change your negative thoughts to God’s positive thoughts.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered.
Psalm 139:17
(2) Change your negative to words to an uplifting affirmation.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
Another form of negative self-directed speech happens when you start talking to your television set or your radio. I suspect this problem has become epidemic recently. If you, like I, find yourself “losing it” during the evening news, you might want to consider the following Scriptures:
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.
James 3:9 (NIV)
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. James 1:19 (NLT)
Those of you who are never tempted to use negative speech are truly blessed. Some of us need to repent and remember to guard our thoughts — too often they find their way into our speech. The antidote may be found in Philippians:
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ
Because He Loves Us Press 