It is so very easy to get discouraged about the confusing and chronic nature of Tick Borne Illness. I have taught myself to listen in to my mental dialogue. Ask when I talk in my head, about this hot mess of Lyme disease am I helping or hurting my progress. Let me be clear I sincerely want to help myself to feel good and live well in every way possible. Negative mind chatter is not the way.
Self-talk can give voice to your health coach, your inner critic or your angry child. Most of our mind chatter goes below the radar of our conscious mind. We don’t notice so it goes on all day shifting our perspective and building the walls of a deep box.
Does Your Mind Chatter Go Negative?
Do you make a practice to stay positive, notice successes and things that feel good? Or are you focused in on what hurts and is not working. In order to figure this out you have to listen.
David Burns MD author of Feeling Good The New Mood Therapy and other works has assembled a list of negative thought patterns he calls cognitive distortions. Listen to yourself for a few days then look at this list to see if you are falling into any of these types of negative thinking when it comes to your health.
As long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than there is wrong, no matter how ill or how hopeless you may feel. But if you hope to mobilize your inner capacities for growth and for healing and to take charge in your life on a new level, a certain kind of effort and energy on your part will be required…. It will take conscious effort on your part to move in a direction of healing and inner peace. This means learning to work with the very stress and pain that is causing you to suffer.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Negative Mind Chatter Traps
My habitual ones include all or nothing thinking piling on and magnification. All or nothing drives me to recognize that because I have symptoms, it doesn’t mean lots of things aren’t working really well.
Piling on is when a one negative thought leads to a cascade of them. Tune into your self talk regularly to recognize a pile on and turn things around. Magnification or blowing things out of proportion is another way to distort to the negative. I have to remind my self not to magnify the importance of new symptoms or the return of ones that have been absent for a while.
You might think no one can hear so this doesn’t matter. No sorry it does. Research shows that negative mind chatter limits our creative thinking and increases self doubt and anxiety. Negativity also alters our hormonal environment and the neurotransmitters we pump out. Distorted thinking can translate to feeling more fatigue, defeat and a sense of helplessness.
Tools To Turn Things Around
“Turn down the volume of your negative inner voice and create a nurturing inner voice to take it’s place.”
― Beverly Engel, The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused — And Start Standing Up for Yourself
Listen and record self talk once a week or more for a few months. Examine how you are shaping your future. Rewrite the negative to the neutral or positive. Tune into to how the negative sounds versus neutral, become conscious of the difference.
When you go negative challenge yourself. What you say can reflect what you feel more than what is real. Ask is this true now or true in the past. Make a commitment to stay current with what is going on in your head and let go of the past pain and suffering.
Identify a Mantra to practice to break the cycle of negative self talk. Negativity can reinforce itself in a loop that digs the hole deeper and deeper. Catch yourself quickly and use a mantra to quickly shift your energy and thoughts to the positive.
Start a daily appreciation practice. Say or write 5 things each day you are grateful for. It can be health related or life related. This simple practice has been shown to shift thinking in a positive direction.
Self Assessment And Tracking Important In Lyme
Self Assessment is a tool we can employ to fine tune our response to Lyme. It sometimes can feel that the whole world is against you when you have Lyme disease. The symptoms are frightening and confusing. Friends and family make you doubt your reality. You have to fight for correct diagnosis and treatment. Check in and make sure to keep your self talk is on your side. Track your mind chatter and keep it positive and supportive.
The purpose of this blog is to share and educate on Lyme disease recovery strategies. The information provided on this website is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment or advice. All the material here is for information purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.