Glad to see your still with me.You Said: I believe that the negative voice (negative self-talk) is more like a learnt habit than something born with. That voice can be taught to talk positively. Yes, this is something about which I have read much. The Ideal Mindset course have something to say about it.
Believe me I'm no expert, and you may be half right in my opinion. We probably are not born with this self talk problem that we all experience, but we have this innate ability to store all negative feeling that we have had thrown our way sense man and women first started thinking. If you look back at history, and even in the bible you will find stories written by people trying to explain the inner voice that is working against what they are trying to get done and being frustrated with a lack of understanding.
The other thing that you brought up: That voice can be taught to talk positively.
I am sure I'm going against what you are taught but, I don't think so, and again no expert here just my own experience.
I still have the negative self talk and I'm sure it will always be with me. So what do I do about it. I am alway aware that it is here and I need to keep it in its place.
This is how I look at it. I live in a bad neighborhood with a bunch of noisy neighbors and I got this one neighbor that's always coming over to my place to give me free advice. He has no job, he wears no shoe's because he doesn't own a pair, he wears dirty clothe, and he smells bad. Is this someone I want to listen to?
My point is this, a unwelcome neighbor which doubles as my inner unwanted voice needs to be put in place all the time. He has a short memory so I must stay watchful and catch him at the door. What I do, and this can be hard at times, is to pay attention to what is going on in my surroundings, stay in the moment as much as I can. I sit down in a quiet place and just let my mind wander and go anywhere it wants to go. Before you know it you are thinking about something that makes you uneasy. Try to capture that moment, and figure out how you got their. I don't do this all the time because it happens enough in my ever day life. What I will learn from this would be different from what you would learn. Why don't you start on one of your courses ( make it for real )and try to stay in the moment and see where it takes you. What you are looking for here is what tiggered your decision to quit something or what ever else it might be.
Here is something else you might try. I am the Captain of my ship. I make all my own decisions. good or bad I made them and nobody else. There is no room for another Captain. You can only work for me and if your good I won't throw you overboard. This is not an affirmation. It is only to make a point. Your running the show.
We are a creature of habit.( nothing new here) My experience tells me that when this happens,(habit) Yo get up in the morning, do all the morning things, I'll bet you can't remember exactly what you did for the last 30 minutes. Take another part of the day and you will experience the same problems. What's really alarming is when you are driving a car and all of a sudden you wake up and don't remember how you got that far.
When your thoughts are sitting idle that is a signal for the other leech to sneak in.
This is what I do. I try to stay away from habits. A few examples would be When I run the microwave I don't set it for 1min. or 2min. I will set it for 1min. 43sec.2min. 11sec. that way I'm in charge. When I shave I use to start on my neck, work my way over to my chin and then do both cheeks and last I would do the part under my nose. Now I start and finish somewhere different. One day I may put my right shoe on first and the next day my left shoe on first. You get the picture.
What do I do when the voice comes? The first thing I do is try to figure out what tiggered it ( explained before ) and then I run my thoughts.( no room for both ) I may say, Oh no you don't! I know what you are trying to do. Your not getting your way, I'm in control here, get back in your hole with the rest of the leeches. Do not say this out loud. This works for me, I live it. Its hard to remember at times, but like they say anything worth having is worth working for. For me this is a big part of doing away with procrastination. I will give you the other part tomorrow and my mindset for commodity trading.
Dennis
