How to ease the voice in our head.

Do you ever talk to yourself?

Yeah, me too. This mental chatter is known as ‘self-talk’. Sometimes it can be faint whispers, and other times the volume gets turned way up. This inner voice can sometimes get in the way of life, but at the end of the day, self-talk has a purpose.

Self-talk helps us to understand and reflect on the past, present, and future. It provides an essential function of our brain called ‘working memory’, which temporarily holds verbal information such as remembering a phone number by repeating it over and over in the few moments before dialling. 

Sometimes, our inner voice can distract us, especially during emotional times. Distancing yourself from self-talk can help, such as talking to yourself as if you were someone else (someone you love). Using your own name or changing the pronoun to “you” instead of “I” allows us to reframe our experience. This works because our tone changes when talking to someone else. 

So next time the mental chatter is getting in the way, talk to yourself like you would someone you love.