Womankind – August 2019

56

Flourish

Change your

inner script

If you were to record your inner

voice during the day, it may be sur-

prising to hear what it has to say.

“Stupid! Why are you always stuff-

ing things up!” This inner voice

may spend time ruminating on what

other people are doing or thinking;

“Why are people always so selfish.

Everyone is out for themselves. No

one cares for me. I’m always being

used.” If you were to record your in-

ner voice every day for a week, you

may begin to see a pattern - much

like a broken record. “Everyone

is always mean to me. I never get

anything right. I just don’t have

any luck. Things go well for other

people but not for me.” This inner

voice is the script, and it’s directing

the movie of your life.

Self-affirmations are

short sentences that

are repeated over and

over again, much like

a mantra.

Psychologists have studied ways

to alter this inner dialogue, because

the way we talk to ourselves man-

ifests itself in the real world. De-

pressed people are essentially listen-

ing to a sad and traumatic narrative

play out during the day, while anxi-

ety sufferers exist on the edge as bad

things are ‘just about to happen’.

These sad, dismal, or frightening

thoughts, swirling about in a brain,

affect adrenaline and heart rate.

Self-affirmations are short sen-

tences that are repeated, over and

over again, much like a mantra.

“Every day I’m getting stronger and

stronger.” Because we can’t hold two

thoughts in our brain at the same

time, psychologists have found that

self-affirmations can be particular-

ly useful for anxiety sufferers when

catastrophic thoughts take hold. “I

am getting fitter and healthier. I am

a loving and caring person.”

University of Pennsylvania psy-

chologist Christopher Cascio and his

colleagues investigated what’s hap-

pening in the brain when people use

self-affirmations. Employing brain

imaging, the psychologists found

that participants who said self-af-

firmations had higher activation in

the reward centre of the brain, the

ventral striatum and the ventral me-

dial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore,

when ruminating on what they val-

ued most in a future context, peo-

ple who repeated self-affirmations

showed more activity in the parts

of the brain related to ‘self ’, the

medial prefrontal cortex and pos-

terior cingulate cortex. Essentially,

the psychologists discovered that by

repeating good thoughts about im-

proving in areas that matter most,

and thinking about why things are

getting better, we help consolidate

our self-worth, which makes us feel

more optimistic. Other studies have

shown that self-affirmations can so-

lidify self-worth to such an extent

that we are less likely to be affect-

ed by negative reactions or com-

ments from others, and that we are

more likely to overcome barriers to

self-improvement. So, what makes

for a good affirmation? A sentence

that’s in the present tense, includes

your name, incorporates a value or

goal that’s emotionally important

to you, and is forward thinking. “I,

Frida, am a creative artist who loves

to practise drawing each day and

will enter the exhibition at the end

of the year.” Affirmations work best

when they are repeated every day.

BY ANTONIA CASE

56 CHANGE YOUR INNER SCRIPT

Flourish

Change your

inner script

If you were to record your inner
voice during the day, it may be sur-
prising to hear what it has to say.
“Stupid! Why are you always stuff-
ing things up!” This inner voice
may spend time ruminating on what
other people are doing or thinking;
“Why are people always so selfish.
Everyone is out for themselves. No
one cares for me. I’m always being
used.” If you were to record your in-
ner voice every day for a week, you
may begin to see a pattern - much
like a broken record. “Everyone
is always mean to me. I never get
anything right. I just don’t have
any luck. Things go well for other
people but not for me.” This inner
voice is the script, and it’s directing
the movie of your life.

Self-affirmations are

short sentences that

are repeated over and

over again, much like

a mantra.

Psychologists have studied ways

to alter this inner dialogue, because

the way we talk to ourselves man-

ifests itself in the real world. De-

pressed people are essentially listen-

ing to a sad and traumatic narrative

play out during the day, while anxi-

ety sufferers exist on the edge as bad

things are ‘just about to happen’.

These sad, dismal, or frightening

thoughts, swirling about in a brain,

affect adrenaline and heart rate.

Self-affirmations are short sen-

tences that are repeated, over and

over again, much like a mantra.

“Every day I’m getting stronger and

stronger.” Because we can’t hold two

thoughts in our brain at the same

time, psychologists have found that

self-affirmations can be particular-

ly useful for anxiety sufferers when

catastrophic thoughts take hold. “I

am getting fitter and healthier. I am

a loving and caring person.”

University of Pennsylvania psy-

chologist Christopher Cascio and his

colleagues investigated what’s hap-

pening in the brain when people use

self-affirmations. Employing brain

imaging, the psychologists found

that participants who said self-af-

firmations had higher activation in

the reward centre of the brain, the

ventral striatum and the ventral me-

dial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore,

when ruminating on what they val-

ued most in a future context, peo-

ple who repeated self-affirmations

showed more activity in the parts

of the brain related to ‘self ’, the

medial prefrontal cortex and pos-

terior cingulate cortex. Essentially,

the psychologists discovered that by

repeating good thoughts about im-

proving in areas that matter most,

and thinking about why things are

getting better, we help consolidate

our self-worth, which makes us feel

more optimistic. Other studies have

shown that self-affirmations can so-

lidify self-worth to such an extent

that we are less likely to be affect-

ed by negative reactions or com-

ments from others, and that we are

more likely to overcome barriers to

self-improvement. So, what makes

for a good affirmation? A sentence

that’s in the present tense, includes

your name, incorporates a value or

goal that’s emotionally important

to you, and is forward thinking. “I,

Frida, am a creative artist who loves

to practise drawing each day and

will enter the exhibition at the end

of the year.” Affirmations work best

when they are repeated every day.

BY ANTONIA CASE

CHANGE YOUR INNER SCRIPT