Talking to ourselves is normal, getting an answer means it’s time to check in to the hotel where everyone wear’s white and you are strapped into the bed. However, what people don’t realize is that listening to what you are saying and how you are saying it is very important and can lead to some amazing Ah Ha! moments.
Just as the way a photographer composes his photo or an artist arranges his subject can tell us a great deal about the artists perspective on the subject, how we choose to say things can tell us a lot about the reason why we do or perceive things in a certain way. For example, I’m a list person. On scraps of paper, on post it notes, in tablets and notebooks, and very much in my head, I’m making lists. Lists of things that need to get done today, that need to be done for this organization or this event, this weekend, this holiday, this shopping trip, you name it, I’ve got a list for it. Mainly the written lists are so I can get the mental list out of my head and be able to think about other things. It’s in how I construct the list in my head that I had my “Ah Ha” moment. Because I realized that I had two subconscious categories going on.
There are the ‘Have to’ items which make me tired just thinking about them. They are requirements or duties or survival items and the doing of them gets me through the day/week/month but doesn’t bring me lightness and joy in the day. The other is ‘Get to’. These are things that I’m really excited about, that are opportunities or fun and feel like a present or a gift even if they are hard work. On the written list they all look the same, just items that need to be checked off and that’s what I thought they were, but I realized, when I listened to what I was saying, that there is a dramatic difference between them and that I really need to treat them differently if I’m going to have a happy life. I need more of the ‘Get to’ items and need to treat myself differently on the ‘Have to’ side in order to make this happier and less of a burden.
What secrets are waiting to be found in the way you talk to yourself? What perspective will you find that will lead you to ‘Ah Ha’? Time to listen….