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New series: Self-Talk Toolbox. Self-talk is the ultimate psychological superpower because it is the most practical method for managing your emotional state When you get good at this, not only can you remove unwanted negative states, but generate high powered states of motivation, focus, and joy The art of doing this adeptly is what I'll be covering in depth in the coming weeks You see, without self-talk, your only options when confronted with an unhelpful emotion are to repress or give in Repression just causes a festering of the emotion which compounds and creates further dysfunction Simply surrendering to negative emotions makes you a slave to your primal impulses and seriously inhibits progress The key to managing negative emotions is to understand that emotions operate on NARRATIVES, and that if you can find a better narrative for your situation, your emotions will shift This is what "perspective", "reframing", and "mindset" are all about: the capacity to keep your emotions in a more beneficial configuration Your psyche WANTS to be functional, healthy, and feeling good, so if you can offer your primal emotional brain a better way to hold a situation, it will shift it's configuration and the emotions will follow The key to doing this is through CENTERED SELF-TALK which is a productive conversation between your rational and emotional minds (your primal and terminal selves).This practice is broken down into two parts: translation and response. You must translate your emotions into words - this brings your emotions out of the unassailable realm of raw sensation and puts them into logical containers that your rational mind can work with and influence You must then respond to your articulated emotions using the logic of a friend and a leader By going back and forth between translating your emotions and proposing new perspectives, you'll eventually find a new narrative that generates a more favorable emotional configuration As we move forward in the series, I'll be breaking down in-depth strategies for doing this But for now, just go ahead and start talking with yourself! UYAP! Mark Queppet P.S. Advanced advice via Vanguard if you get stuck