The Power of Self Talk

Book excerpt: "A true devotee works independently of the world outside and draws his inspiration, equanimity and ecstasy from the source within himself"- Bhagavad Gita Verse 12.16As per a study, it is found that on an average, in a day, we have 45000 to 55000 thoughts which translate into 25 to 35 thoughts in a minute. More than 90% of these thoughts are involuntary and the majority of them are negative. It means our mind keeps on fluctuating throughout the day.We have 2 minds; Conscious and Subconscious. The conscious mind is an active mind which is thinking, observing and doing everything with attention. Like you are reading this synopsis or when you are playing any sports like chess or when you use remote for changing TV channels. While the subconscious mind is subjective in nature and responds to whatever is stored into it. It's like a recording machine which records everything irrespective of the quality of input data (good or bad). It works in autopilot mode for different activities like walking, swimming, driving, wearing trouser, speaking. Throughout the day whatever we think and store in our subconscious mind creates our destiny. The onus lies on us to shape our destiny. If we allow Garbage in, then only Garbage will come out. So, it is important to watch our thoughts.As per the research, it has been concluded that we cannot control our thoughts, but we can always direct it where we want it to be. Self-Talk plays a very important role in directing our thoughts, wherever we want. There are different ways of doing self-talk like Verbal, Non-verbal, written and recorded. Throughout the day, knowingly and unknowingly, we are creating positive and negative self-talk, which makes us the person we have become today. We can always change whatever we want to change provided we are clear, why we want to change and when we want to change. "Choose your self-talk wisely, it is up to you!"