I started to draft this post and realized something: I’ve made a lot of confessions to you lately! I owned up about my freakout over the measuring tape, I admitted that I was sandbagging in the weight room, and I came clean that I wasn’t doing my best. Well, I have something else to confess, and then I promise to try to pull it together.
I have a really bad habit of talking dirty to myself. Not dirty talk in the good kinda way, but dirty talk in a very bad way. To be specific? I used to say mean things to myself about my stomach. You see, my stomach has never been my favorite part of my body. I have to be dancing on the precipice of single digit bodyfat percentages in order to see my abs. I don’t lose sleep over it but apparently it bothers me enough because I caught myself making derogatory, rude little comments to my stomach. Things that might… maybe… possibly… resemble something like, “You’re so gross. Will you ever get leaner? You look so puffy.” I actually didn’t notice I was doing it until a couple of months ago but once I made myself aware of it, I realized I was doing it all of the time. Each time I’d undress to hop in the shower I’d pause to stare at my stomach critically in the mirror, give it the stank eye, and then say something cruel to it. This, I am embarrassed to admit, was happening on a regular basis, and – get ready for this one – I’m convinced that my thoughts were making my midsection look worse not only in my mind, but physically as well.
This is akin to having a day in which you are simply exhausted, and you tell anybody that will listen, “Ughhh, I’m soooo tired!” and the more you repeat it, the more you believe it, and the worse you feel. Or when you frequently tell Fido that he is a bad dog, and then you’re shocked when he continues to act naughty. Of course he is going to misbehave, because you keep cramming it down his throat that he is, in fact, a bad dog!
Further proof: I am quite fond of my legs, ass, and back, therefore whenever I peep them in the mirror I always think lovely things about them. Coincidentally, those 3 body parts (in my opinion) are my best physical attributes. Food for thought: do those body parts look nicer than my middle because they are just naturally better? Or is it because I have programmed my mind to believe that they look better, hence actually causing them to look better? I’ll let you chew on that for a moment.
Needless to say, I’ve been working very hard to put a stop to the midsection madness. Of course, it’s a work in progress but I’m doing a good job. I’ve been making a point to look in the mirror and say nice things to myself. At first this felt kind of weird. Almost conceited. But I pondered, why can I pay a genuine compliment to others, yet I feel uncomfortable if I talk nice to myself? If I want to help myself then I need to get over it and unabashedly let the compliments fly!
I recently read a wonderful book titled, “The Genie Within” by Harry Carpenter. It focuses on the importance of the things that we tell ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously, and how those things can change our lives. What you’re feeding your mind can cause you to have more or less success, health, energy, sleep, strength, intelligence, etc. I highly recommend this book. You may be surprised at what you’re telling yourself through your subconscious without even knowing it!
Here is a great example of feeding your mind with positive thoughts:
