I never would have guessed that good information about eliminating negative self-talk appears in best-selling Christian self-help books written by women; Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer, Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth. Right now, I have only read Power Thoughts but have seen both on the NYTimes bestseller list. I'm impressed with the Meyer's approach to the topic of thinking.
• Meyer quotes sound psychological, academic research.
• She states, "Discouraging words from others and thoughts such as, 'I’m not smart enough, attractive enough, talented enough or diligent enough' often become self-fulfilling prophesies.”
• And says, “Let me be clear that I am not saying that we can think into existence anything that we want."Whew! She's not part of the Law of Attraction crowd. (Rhonda Byrne, The Secret, The Power — and lots of other wishful thinkers.)
• Meyer is all for positive attitude accompanied by realistic inner thinking and outward talking. e.g. "If I want a raise, I'll have to work harder." She would suggest, "How can I start doing that?", rather than, "I'll pray for a raise".
• She views self-talk as a choice and responsibility. If we want to change our self-talk habit, time, effort, determination and discipline are needed.
I have a similar message in (not yet published) Handbook #1 for Intelligent Women: Break the Negative Self-Talk Habit.
Meyer and I differ in a few ways.
• Meyer thinks of Satan as the author of self-critical thinking, self-doubt, and anxiety. I think NST is a learned behavior. (See post, First Step in Dumping NST — Recognize that You Do It, July 25, 2010)
• She uses Biblical quotes to support her approach to altering thinking habits. I have nothing against her approach, but I use psychologically researched techniques as my approach.
Have some of my blog readers read any of the books targeted to Christian women? I'd be interested in hearing, seeing, reading your impressions and perceptions.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
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I agree that self-talk can be such a limiting factor! It can start as small negative thought but it doesn't take long before we start "piling on" more negative thoughts and first thing you know something small has become something mountainous. I find it helps to catalogue thoughts when they come in- thoughts of the future into one basket,thoughts of the past into another and confusing thoughts into the third basket. Then I can come back to them later and often like laundry exposed to the sun they have been bleached! Thanks for a good blog. You can see my comments on weight loss at www.stillettochick.com
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