What can we do to maintain and improve our emotional health during these uncertain times?

Something I learned as a young student with little confidence is that I can change my thoughts by changing my language.

Of prime importance is how you communicate with yourself. What do you tell yourself in your thoughts and when speaking out loud? A powerful exercise that you can begin practicing right now is transformative language. Test it during this COVID-19 pandemic.

• Become aware of the messages you are feeding to yourself. What do you say to yourself? Are your words positive? Become aware of what you tell yourself. In other words when something happens become conscious of your words. Listen to your thoughts. For instance, do you tell yourself, “I don’t feel well” or “Chances are I will catch the virus”? What you are telling your subconscious is that you are sick and you will have the virus; and your subconscious will believe it. So, what happens? Little by little your brain begins to believe that you will get sick so there’s no reason for it to help you feel well.
• As soon as you catch yourself with a negative thought, change it to a positive. Using the example above, tell yourself, “I feel good. I am healthy, happy and well”. If you are able, say this out loud with a smile. Did I hear you say, “But that’s a lie. I don’t feel healthy, happy and well”. It’s okay. You do not have to believe it. Your subconscious believes what you tell it, whether or not you believe it. What is important is too reword anything that you are saying that is not positive so that it becomes positive as in the example above. Even saying something such as “Oh I wish I could do that”, is not positive; because what you are saying is, “I cannot do that”. In this case you might simply tell yourself, “I can do anything I wish”. Test this.
• Use this exercise consciously over the next weeks and see what happens. Using positive language; having a positive attitude is a key to your emotional health. I encourage you to use this exercise even if you are a positive person, because you may find your thoughts and language have changed during this pandemic.

I would love to hear your experiences with this exercise and the influence it has on your emotional health and your age esteem.

Bonnie Fatio

An Impatient Patient

 I’m an impatient patient!

Yes I am!

I want to leave now,

In a moving van!

I’m impatiently here

In a Hospital Bed –

Patience is out there

Waiting for it to be “fed”!

With calmness and coolness

And positive thoughts

(All of those attitudes which

Bonnie has taught!)

Patient and Patience

The one wants you to stay

In clinical care (patient)

The other says practice it,

No matter where! (patience)

Written by Alexandra Taylor for AgeEsteem®

GO! 

Yesterday you learned to use your internal STOP sign to eliminate negative thoughts and expressions in order to grow our age esteem.

Let’s take it a step further.  It isn’t enough to simply stop our negative thoughts.  We need to also replace them with something positive.  A positive thought or expression is uplifting and moves us forward.  Negatives are like weights that hold us down.

Now that you have used your STOP sign to eliminate negatives that creep into your language, it is time to replace those negative words and expressions with positive thoughts and words.  Just as the streetlights turn from stop to go, so will your thoughts.

• Each time you catch yourself using a negative expression such as “I can’t”, STOP!
• Now GO! Transform your words to make them positive.  “I could never learn to use these new fangled phones” becomes “I will learn to use my new phone’s multiple possibilities”.
• GO! with your new positive vocabulary until it becomes second nature.

You will soon find that you have a whole new attitude that enhances your age esteem and your life will become happier.

Bonnie Fatio