The most important conversation you will have today

The most important conversation you will have today will be with yourself. Few people understand the importance of the things we tell ourselves. If we did, we would avoid saying many of the things we often say such as "I never do anything right," or "I'll never get this weight off so I might as well stop trying," or "I'm just not smart enough to get that job," or a host of other negative things we tell ourselves every day.

When we continually feed into our minds negative thoughts about ourselves we set ourselves up for failure. After a while we begin to believe these things we say to ourselves and they become self-fulfilling prophecies. We expect to fail so we do. Even if something does go right we chalk it up to luck or circumstance, never to our own abilities.

Do I believe in positive thinking? I do up to a point. It certainly beats stinkin' thinkin' and the other negative things we tell ourselves. However, I am not in the crowd that believes that positive thinking will enable you to do anything you want. I can be the most positive person you'll ever meet, but you don't want me performing brain surgery on you. At the same time, positive thinking will help you do the things you do better than negative thinking would.

If a person isn't naturally a positive thinker what can he or she do to become one? Start by taking an honest look at your positive traits. What are the things you do well? Accept them. What do others compliment you on? Accept those compliments. Become very much aware of your positive traits and abilities and embrace them in everything you do. Repeat those positive aspects of yourself to yourself often.

The second thing is to avoid negative people. No, you don't want to surround yourself with yes-men. You want people to point out to you weaknesses you might have and flaws in your logic when appropriate, but you don't need a steady diet of negative thoughts from the people you associate with. Frankly, I don't have time for such people in my life so I try to avoid being around them as much as possible. When I have to be with such people and they start in on their negativity I focus on other things. I tune them out as much as possible and refuse to embrace their critical spirits.

Practice positive self-talk every day. Some motivational speakers suggest having a card with a number of positive affirmations on your bathroom counter top. They recommend looking at yourself in the mirror and reading that card to yourself every morning as you prepare for the day. Some even recommend carrying the card in your pocket and reading it to yourself throughout the day as needed.

You will never rise above the level of conversation you have with yourself. If you speak negative thoughts about yourself to yourself, your life with be marked with disappointment and failure. If you speak positive uplifting words to yourself you will find that those words will become a reality in your life. Which will you choose to speak. The choice is yours.