Is Self- Talk healthy? Should we practice it on a regular basis or not?
Undoubtedly, Self- Talk facilitate best decisions of yours.Being caught talking to yourself, especially using your own name in the conversation is sometimes really embarrassing. Have you ever been caught in such a situation? And it is no wonder — it makes you look like you are hallucinating. Hallucinations points towards an onset of some serious mental Disorder but not Self Talk. Talking to yourself is actually good for you. Clearly, this is because the entire purpose of talking aloud is to communicate with others. But given that so many of us do talk to ourselves, could it be normal after all — or perhaps even healthy?
We actually talk to ourselves silently all the time. Sometimes we talk to ourselves that is audible to others too and on the other hand, we talk to ourselves in our own mind. Nobody will answer your question late night but your own thoughts will answer back. This inner talk is very healthy indeed, having a special role in keeping our minds fit. It helps us to organize our thoughts, plan actions, consolidate memory, and modulate emotions. In other words, it helps us to control ourselves.Talking out loud can be an extension of this silent inner talk, caused when a certain motor command is triggered involuntarily.
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According to the Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget toddlers begin to control their actions as soon as they developing language. When approaching a hot surface, the toddler will typically say “hot, hot” out loud and move away. This kind of behavior can continue into adulthood.
So your inner talk helps to organize your thoughts and flexibly adapt them to changing demands, but is there anything special about talking out loud? Why not just keep it to yourself, if there is nobody else to hear your words? Well, talking loudly to yourself gives you inner strength and help you to make correct decisions in life.
Much of this benefit appears to come from simply hearing oneself, as auditory commands seem to be better controllers of behavior than written ones. Talking out loud, when the mind is not wandering, could actually be a sign of high cognitive functioning. Rather than revealing mental illness, it can make you intellectually more competent. The stereotype of the mad scientist talking to themselves, lost in their own inner world, might reflect the reality of a genius who uses all the means at their disposal to increase their brain power.
Here are few advantages of ‘Self-Talk’. Talking to yourself will definitely give you feeling of satisfaction!
1. Give yourself a shoutout: Even if no one else seems to be appreciating you at the moment, compliment yourself on the way you handled a difficult situation, leave your comfort zone for a new adventure, or just got through a busy day. Come out of your comfort zone.
2. Give yourself a pep talk: We could all use a motivational speaker from time to time, but we do not always have one handy. Self-talk can help you motivate yourself to achieve a goal at work, in a relationship, or in your personal behavior.
3. Debate both sides of a difficult decision: Saying your options out loud and elaborating on the pros and cons can help bring the right choice to light, and you might be surprised at the unexpected direction your thoughts take when they are audible.
4. Blow off steam: If you are not the type to confront people who tick you off, talk to yourself about how they bother you or how unfair a situation is. Introverts are especially prone to missing opportunities to assert themselves. Put the “self” back in self-assertion.
5. Understand your thoughts better: Sometimes we are sure we think one way, but our psyche tells us differently. Have you ever found yourself crying when you did not think anything was wrong? That’s your subconscious letting you know. Invite it to join your conversation to bring you to new levels of self-awareness.
6. Rehearse a difficult conversation: Practicing what you need to say to get your points across clearly and without anger will put you in a much better position when it comes time to communicate about a tough issue.
7. Boosts your memory: Research shows that saying the location out loud when you place an object will help you remember where you put it.
8. Shake off stress and anxiety: Who could not use one more way to get rid of stress? Work it through with a monologue.
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Is there any downside of ‘Self-Talk’?
Well, everything has something positive and something negative about it. Nothing is just perfect in this world. There are some downsides of Self Talk too. Here it is:
1.You may appear bizarre or odd to others: It can be embarrassing to be heard by others while you are talking to yourself out loud in public. Not everybody would welcome the audible self-talks. They may consider you or mad or make fun of you.
2.You can appear weird, bizarre or odd to your own self too: This is especially true if none of your friends do self-talking. You could end up wondering if you are normal or not. You yourself may even be alarmed when you hear yourself talking out loud. End of the day it’s normal no worries!
3.It can bring you down instead of lift you up: Negative self-talk is detrimental to oneself. When you keep on hearing insulting and hurtful words being spoken against you by your own mouth, your brain would accept those words as the truth. Loudly depreciating yourself would produce a weak and doubtful personality.Many medical professionals would rather advise that you keep your mouth shut if you cannot say anything good about yourself.
4. It adds to one’s confusions: When there are many voices shouting to be heard, adding your own voice could only worsen the scenario. At this point, one would benefit more by keeping mum and allowing the environment to be quiet, too.
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