Stop Talking to Yourself!
You may not realize this, but you have a constant companion/s. Why some people are lonely, I'll never know. This companion of yours is on. All the time. He is telling you what to do, what not to do; he is calling you names, making you feel bad about yourself, making you second-guess your decisions, and on and on. Once in a while, your companion will be a motivating voice saying, "You've got this! You can do it." If only it were like this all the time. Sadly, your companion is more of a critic than anything else. Oh, and by the way, your companion determines whether or not you're happy. How? He lets you know. If something doesn't pan out the way you want it, then your companion will say, "Are you kidding me? You're going to take this? You're going to go along with this madness?" This could be about anything. Your companion is a BUTTINSKI! He can interject himself into any situation and come between you and another person.
By now you've probably figured out that your companion/s are your THOUGHTS. These thoughts usually spend their time judging, criticizing and narrating life, if you will, as if you really needed a narration of everything going on around you.
You're not alone in this. We usually have 50,000 to 70,000 mental interferences a day. That's quite a lot, wouldn't you say? So why even talk about this at all? Because I think we can all be a lot happier and more at peace if we stop talking to ourselves and start listening.
Most of the situations in which we end up and how we feel about them, is because of what we've told ourselves about the situation. Try to think of an instant where this isn't so. You'll be hard-pressed, I'm certain. Take a few minutes to really listen to yourself and write down what you hear. Some of those things may be:
1) Going over a conversation you're going to have with someone. Or that you've already had.
2) Convincing yourself to do or not do something.
3) Thinking about a problem you're having. Constantly thinking about it. With no end in sight. Notice how you don't solve the problem by doing this.
4) Complaining. And then sometimes, verbalizing those complaints so others can hear it.
5) Rehashing a negative remark someone said to you.
6) Formulating ways to convince someone they're wrong.
7) Making ASSumptions about other people you see in the world.
I could go on, but in the essence of time, I won't. You get the idea.
The main reason we need to stop talking to ourselves is because when we do, we'll finally start to hear. Not your crazy thoughts, but important messages that might actually be meaningful to our lives. You will start hearing other people. Imagine that they may have something important to say. You might learn something really cool from being open. I recommend listening to children. They are amazing and have so much to say. Some of it may be gibberish, but in between, you'll really get some gems.
Stop talking to yourself so that you can really hear. Believe me, there's a lot to hear. Don't let what you hear always be what you think!