Swap your negative thoughts for positive words.
According to a study published in the Nature Communications Journal, the average human has more than 6,000 thoughts per day. Surprisingly, roughly 70% of those thoughts are negative, meaning we live in a constant cycle of self-doubt and fear. But what if we could change this narrative?
Author and speaker Becky Kemp believes that by changing the negative narrative in our heads, we can change the course of our lives.
The Power of Words
Becky explained, “Our brains are wired to protect us, so they always look for the doubt, the struggle, and we can be intentional with our words and get out of the struggle by just leveraging our language.” She emphasized that changing the narrative in our heads doesn’t require extraordinary effort, but rather a conscious practice, much like learning to play the piano.
Personal Transformation
Becky shared her personal journey: “Fifteen years ago, I was stuck in some depression, anxiety. I’d always wanted to be a speaker, a writer, never focused on any of those things. I had an experience where I thought, change your words, you can change your story, and now I’m speaking and writing, doing the things that I wanted to do.”
The Word Effect
Becky has created a mindset framework centered around the power of words, detailed in her book, The Word Effect: Seven Simple Words To Create Your Most Beautiful Life. She teaches people to redirect their thoughts daily by intentionally taking 15 minutes to focus on positivity. “If we’re positive to ourselves, then we can shine a light out to others better and affect those relationships and those people in our life we love and care for,” Becky said.
Focus on the Good
Becky encouraged people to focus on what they can do and celebrate their wins. She shared, “When I wanted to write a book, my first thought was, ‘I can’t do that. There’s so many books out there already.’ Then when I changed and thought, ‘well, all these other people can write a book, I can too.'”
The Importance of Mantras
Becky believes in the power of mantras and positive messages. She started a positive t-shirt and apparel business called Becoming Threads, with the tagline “Let what you wear tell your story.” She explained, “We could actually walk into our closet every day and decide the words we are intentionally putting on.”
Asking ‘How’ Instead of ‘Why’
Becky advised focusing on ‘how’ instead of ‘why’ to direct our brains towards solutions rather than obstacles. “When we focus on why, our brain starts to look for the obstacles, and the obstacles grow because what we focus on grows,” she explained.
Embracing Abundance
Finally, Becky suggested replacing ‘but’ with ‘and’ to foster abundant thinking. She quoted Wayne Dyer: “If we tune into abundant thinking each day, our lives get better, but we have to tune into it.”
For those interested in taking a step forward, Becky offers a free ebook, The One Word Way, available at becomingwithbecky.com.
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