Healthy Habits
Healthy Eating
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Good Mental Health
Positive things you can do to support good mental health include:
Eat a healthy and nutritious diet
Exercise regularly
Get enough sleep
Connect with friends and family
Relax and enjoy your hobbies
Talk about your feelings
Develop positive ways to deal with challenges
Eat a healthy and nutritious diet
Exercise regularly
Get enough sleep
Connect with friends and family
Relax and enjoy your hobbies
Talk about your feelings
Develop positive ways to deal with challenges
Self-talk is basically your inner voice, the voice in your mind which says things that you don’t necessarily say out loud. Often self-talk happens without you even realising it and can be a subtle running commentary going on in the background of your mind. But what you say in your mind can determine a lot of how you feel about who you are.
So what is positive and negative self-talk?
Positive self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel good about yourself and the things that are going on in your life. It is like having an optimistic voice in your head that always looks on the bright side.
Example – "I totally nailed that part of the dance today!"
"I can totally make it through this exam"
"I feel tired but I only have one more activity on Study Ladder then I can chill out and watch some TV."
Negative self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel pretty bad about yourself and things that are going on. It can put a downer on anything, whether it is good or bad.
Example- "I hate dancing, this sucks."
"Everyone thinks I’m an idiot."
"Everything is too hard, I give up."
Negative self-talk is particularly bad as it brings you down all the time. It can impact on your mental health and tends to make people pretty miserable.
But being positive all the time isn’t achievable either, and isn’t helpful all the time. So how can you make your self-talk work for you?
Better self-talk
There are three things you can do that can help with changing how you talk to yourself.
Listen to what you’re saying to yourself- we always aware of what we’re saying in our minds. The first step in improving your self-talk is to actually notice what your inner voice is saying. Take some time each day to listen, and even write down, what you’re thinking.
Monitor your self-talk- Is your self-talk more positive or negative? Start questioning your self-talk asking things like:
Change your self-talk - Easier said than done, but definitely worth working on. Try by challenging you negative thoughts with positive ones. For example, if you think "I’ll never be able to do this," ask yourself, "is there anything I can do that will help me be able to do this?"
Challenging questions
There are four main types of challenging questions to ask yourself:
1. Reality testing
What is my evidence for and against my thinking?
Am I jumping to negative conclusions?
How can I find out if my thoughts are actually true?
2. Look for alternative explanations
Are there any other ways that I could look at this situation?
What else could this mean?
If I were being positive, how would I perceive this situation?
3. Putting it in perspective
What is the best thing that could happen?
Is there anything good about this situation?
Will this matter in five years’ time?
4. Using goal-directed thinking
Is this way of thinking helping me to achieve my goals?
What can I do that will help me solve the problem?
Is there something I can learn from this situation, to help me do it better next time?
Why should I practice?
The more you work on improving your self-talk the better you will get. It’s kind of like practicing an instrument or going to sports training, it won’t be easy to start with but will get better with time.
It might not seem like much, but self-talk is a really important part of our self-esteem and confidence. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you’re more likely to get things done and feel more in control of stuff that’s going on in your life.
So what is positive and negative self-talk?
Positive self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel good about yourself and the things that are going on in your life. It is like having an optimistic voice in your head that always looks on the bright side.
Example – "I totally nailed that part of the dance today!"
"I can totally make it through this exam"
"I feel tired but I only have one more activity on Study Ladder then I can chill out and watch some TV."
Negative self-talk is the stuff that makes you feel pretty bad about yourself and things that are going on. It can put a downer on anything, whether it is good or bad.
Example- "I hate dancing, this sucks."
"Everyone thinks I’m an idiot."
"Everything is too hard, I give up."
Negative self-talk is particularly bad as it brings you down all the time. It can impact on your mental health and tends to make people pretty miserable.
But being positive all the time isn’t achievable either, and isn’t helpful all the time. So how can you make your self-talk work for you?
Better self-talk
There are three things you can do that can help with changing how you talk to yourself.
Listen to what you’re saying to yourself- we always aware of what we’re saying in our minds. The first step in improving your self-talk is to actually notice what your inner voice is saying. Take some time each day to listen, and even write down, what you’re thinking.
Monitor your self-talk- Is your self-talk more positive or negative? Start questioning your self-talk asking things like:
- Is there actual evidence for what I’m thinking?
- What would I say if a friend were in a similar situation?
- Is there a more positive way of looking at this?
- Am I keeping everything in perspective?
- Can I do anything to change what I’m feeling bad about?
Change your self-talk - Easier said than done, but definitely worth working on. Try by challenging you negative thoughts with positive ones. For example, if you think "I’ll never be able to do this," ask yourself, "is there anything I can do that will help me be able to do this?"
Challenging questions
There are four main types of challenging questions to ask yourself:
1. Reality testing
What is my evidence for and against my thinking?
Am I jumping to negative conclusions?
How can I find out if my thoughts are actually true?
2. Look for alternative explanations
Are there any other ways that I could look at this situation?
What else could this mean?
If I were being positive, how would I perceive this situation?
3. Putting it in perspective
What is the best thing that could happen?
Is there anything good about this situation?
Will this matter in five years’ time?
4. Using goal-directed thinking
Is this way of thinking helping me to achieve my goals?
What can I do that will help me solve the problem?
Is there something I can learn from this situation, to help me do it better next time?
Why should I practice?
The more you work on improving your self-talk the better you will get. It’s kind of like practicing an instrument or going to sports training, it won’t be easy to start with but will get better with time.
It might not seem like much, but self-talk is a really important part of our self-esteem and confidence. By working on getting more positive self-talk, you’re more likely to get things done and feel more in control of stuff that’s going on in your life.