Listen to Yourself! It's Trying to Talk to You!

And today I decided, you know what?

There was one subject that we didn't really talk about that I feel is vitally important.

And that is how well we talk to ourselves.

Now, I'm not talking about crazy talk, like the wacko that you pass in the grocery store who's mumbling to themselves.

No, no, no.

I'm not encouraging any of that type of behavior.

Instead, what I'm talking about is the way we treat ourselves, the way we talk to ourselves.

And my goal here is to have you really paying attention to the way you treat yourself every moment of the day.

Because one thing is for certain if we're gonna hate on anybody, if we're gonna beat up anyone, it's gonna be ourselves.

Why we do that?

I have no idea.

I guess it's some crazy screwed up thing that is just part of our makeup, part of society.

But today, my goal is to help you start paying a little bit more attention to the way you're communicating with yourself in hopes that you start making little improvements, little small incremental changes each day are gonna build up to something really great.

And I'm here to tell you if you start treating yourself better, start talking to yourself better, communicating with you better, your life is gonna get a whole lot better.

So let's dive into today's episode number 114.

All right.

So if the idea of me telling you that you need to start talking to yourself better, it's kind of weirding you out.

Like, okay, what is Kevin saying?

What I'm saying is that I want you to start treating yourself better.

And if it's still hard to comprehend what I'm saying, do you know the way that you treat your best friend?

That's how I want you to start treating yourself.

Now, you can take it to whatever step you want.

I mean, I'm all about you indulging yourself with a spa day, a nice massage, whatever it is.

Or how about this?

How about you stop looking in the mirror each morning and saying, oh my gosh, I hate my skin.

I'm so wrinkly.

I hate my hair color.

Oh, you are so fat.

I just can't stand the look of my face.

And so then you cover it up with makeup and you try to make it look better, and you do your hair and you still look in the mirror and you're like, what is wrong with you?

Why do you look so awful?

You know what I'm talking about?

How many times do we say that about ourselves?

We gotta stop.

If you're doing that, you got to stop.

Now, I get it.

Some things we want to change about ourselves are weight.

I think a lot of us can understand about weight.

And it's easy to beat ourselves up and say, oh my gosh, you're so fat.

You're so ugly, talking to ourselves.

Well, you know what that does?

It does nothing good.

It doesn't do anything good for you.

And so I would like to encourage you to totally start flipping the script.

And when you start to have a bad thought about yourself, about the way you look, I want you to instead think of it as though you're talking to your friend, the person you love the most.

You're not gonna talk to them like that.

You're not gonna say those nasty, horrible things to them.

So why in the world are you saying it to yourself?

I want you to change that entire mindset, flip the script, and when you start to say those things, think, I'm talking to me.

And I should treat me better than I treat my best friend.

So instead, you literally say, You are beautiful, you are looking good today.

The people, they're gonna be like, ooh, baby, she is looking modified.

Or for the dudes listening, man, chick's gonna be all about some of this today.

You know what I'm saying?

Change the whole attitude about yourself and roll with it.

I guarantee you, people on the outside are even gonna notice it.

Because when we think of ourselves in a different way, when we treat ourselves better, talk to ourselves with encouragement and enthusiasm, it shines on the outside as well.

So that's my first tip for you today in communicating with yourself better is start treating yourself better, being friendly to yourself, kind to yourself, and talking to yourself like you're talking to your best friend.

All right, next up.

Sometimes we got to get real with the way we feel.

What do I mean?

What I mean is that pay attention to the way your body feels and stop lying to yourself that you feel differently.

If you wake up and you're just not feeling the best today, well, recognize it and don't just blow it off and don't be like, oh my gosh, I'm so tired of this.

I, you know, and you just go on about your day and you're just gonna push yourself because you know what, you got things you got to do.

Well, that's awesome in a sense.

But here's the other part your body has days that it don't feel good.

Most of us have medical issues and they can't be ignored.

You've got to recognize them.

And so I want you to start being compassionate to yourself.

If you don't feel good, be like, hey, that's all right.

We're gonna do what we got to do today.

And when I get a chance, I'm gonna take a break.

I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna rest.

Maybe I gotta end the day early.

Maybe some of those things on my to-do list aren't gonna get done today.

And that's all right because I don't feel good today.

So pay attention to yourself.

If you got something hurting, an ailment creeping up, listen to it.

Don't push yourself to the point that you make it worse.

I think, especially any of us, as we get older, it seems like the creaks and the moans and the groans they start happening a little bit more often.

Well, it's important that we understand our body, it's getting older.

It's getting worn out.

And so recognize it.

Maybe you got to give yourself a little bit more time to get moving in the morning.

You got to get them limbs stretched a little bit more, them belts are a little bit tight.

They got to get loosened up.

So give yourself that time and just listen to yourself.

Your body's talking to you.

It's trying to communicate with you.

It just wants you to talk back and be like, hey, listen, I get it.

That knee, you're hurting.

Left knee, don't worry.

I got your back.

I'm gonna put some ice on you before we head out the door today.

You know what I'm saying?

Talk to yourself.

Now you don't got to do it the crazy way that I am, where you talk to your left knee, but I think you get the picture.

I want you to start just understanding that you need to listen to what your body's telling you and you need to react.

It's all about communicating, communicating with ourselves.

Next up, on this way in which I want you to start talking to yourself more, communicating better with you.

There's no one who's gonna cheer you on better than you.

So, in this step, I want you to start practicing being your own cheerleader.

That's right.

You are gonna be the one who's gonna start pushing yourself more, who's gonna start cheering you on that you can do this.

You got this.

There ain't nothing standing in your way because you've been through stuff and baby, you got this with no problem.

So, what I'm saying is I want you to start cheering yourself on.

If you got something difficult coming up, you give yourself the pep talk you need.

If that's you putting on a little bit of music and you giving yourself an all-out cheer squad routine, then baby, you do it.

Or if it's you busting out coach mode, you're the coach in the locker room, halftime, score is tied, and you got to rally up the team.

Well, I want you to do that for yourself.

Like I said, ain't nobody know you better than you, and ain't nobody gonna rally you up quite like you.

So bust out the cheerleader in you, bust out the coach in you, and start getting yourself pumped up to take on the day every day, no matter what obstacles or challenges stand in your way.

All right.

Now, here's the important part about all of this is that in order for you to communicate better with yourself, you gotta listen to yourself.

You gotta practice not being the one who's doing all the talking, not being the one who's beating yourself up, or the one who's tearing yourself down, or even at times the one who's cheering yourself on, or being the coach telling you you can do it.

Sometimes you need to be the one who listens to yourself.

That's right.

I'm telling you, yourself will talk to you if you listen.

And so for this, I want to encourage you to start focusing on being present in the moment.

When it's quiet, don't immediately run over and turn on the TV or turn on the radio.

Enjoy the quiet.

Just sit there for a few.

Don't pick up the phone.

Don't turn on the podcast.

Unless it's this podcast, then you always turn it on.

But enjoy the quiet and listen to what yourself tells you.

Now, I understand if you're new to this, some call it meditating.

You may find it a little awkward, a little weird.

And that's okay.

It's gonna be at first.

But the more you do it, the better you're gonna get at it, and the more you're going to hear as you do it.

So I encourage you to start actively listening to yourself.

Take a few minutes.

It literally can be a couple of minutes.

Steal that moment in the day.

Center yourself when things have been going wrong at work, things have been stressful at home, whatever it is, steal a few moments to just be still, to just be quiet and focus on nothing else but you.

Don't listen to any of the sounds around you, but instead listen to your own breath, your own breathing.

And just focus on you.

Because remember, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is you.

And that's what this is all about is talking to yourself better, treating yourself better, cheering yourself on when you need cheered on, coaching yourself when you need coached, or listening to yourself when yourself has something to say.

That's what today's episode is all about.

So I hope today's episode helps you start communicating with you a little bit better.

If you enjoyed today's podcast, please be sure to leave a rating in review if listening on Apple Podcasts.

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I would really appreciate it.

Or if you're anywhere else on the podcasting universe and you want to just give me a shout out, please do so.

You can find me on all the social media channels or on the website thelowdown with kevinlow.com.

All of that information, of course, is always in the episode show notes.

Until next time, I hope today's episode has you thinking a little bit more about the ways in which you can start talking to yourself a little bit more and listening to yourself a little bit more.

Remember, you are the one who matters.

You are the one who counts.

And I want you to remember that always.

Until next time, this is The Lowdown with Kevin Lowe.

Get out there and take on the day every day, no matter what obstacles stand in your way.