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4 Words to Tell Yourself (again & again)

September 23, 2014 By Lisa Lewis

Have you ever thought much about your self-talk?  The words you tell yourself in your head? They may come out of your mouth when you think no one else is listening.

Are they kind words?  Are you nice to yourself?  Or do you have the voice of “the Bad Girlfriend” as my coach calls it?

I hadn’t thought about how I treat myself until one day I overheard my little boy say something to himself when he dropped something.

“That was stupid.”

ouch.

My eavesdropping became an awareness to change something I hadn’t had on my radar.

Maybe that is something you need to be aware of too.

Change is hard.  But the good news about change?  It’s constantly going on all around you. You might as well join in!

I’ve worked on that self-talk change for almost 20 years.  I have learned a four word phrase that I’ll share with you that you can tell yourself too.

You Can Do This.

These 4 words have helped me again and again.

We sent one son off to college. You Can Do This.

My mom and dad passed away in the same year. You Can Do This.

My husband and I trained for 6 months to ride our tandem bike around Lake Tahoe.

You Can Do This.

We’ve watched one son get married and move away. You Can Do This.

We launched our youngest to college all the way across the country! You Can Do This.

We emptied our home of 15 years and moved away from our community.  You Can Do This.

See what I mean?

A very helpful phrase.  But it’s really a shortened version of the first Bible verse I memorized when I came to faith in Jesus Christ at 23 years old.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13

If you follow Christ, You Can Do This.  Whatever He calls you to, He will be with you in it.  His strength is yours to rely on, to sustain you through the change.  God doesn’t change.

Everything around us may change but God remains the same.  Yesterday, Today and Forever.

You Can Do This.

My recent challenge?

Food changes.

This guy has had hidden health issues. A change in what he eats will improve the issues.

Colin at Apple

So we became vegan.  Not just a change like “eat less fats” or “cut out sweets”.

A plant based diet will reduce the scary numbers that say bad things could happen.

I had to change how I cook, what I buy and just about everything I knew about food prep.

Tempeh Tacos

You Can DO This!  (these are tempeh tacos)

You might be a passionate cook who looks at a challenge like this with great enthusiasm.  That’s not me.

I have to talk to myself. Daily.  I had to find new sources of inspiration (check out my Pinterest boards for proof!)

Here is a new favorite book

French Market

Remy would be proud (ratatouille)

Your change challenge may be much different than food changes.  Believe me, I know change is hard.

But change can be good.

You Can Do This!

I’d love to hear your changes so we can encourage one another!

Also, I’m linking up today over at Sue’s blog:

Tasting on Tuesdays

Filed Under: Encouragement, Hope, Personal Tagged With: attitude, change, Kathy Vick, perseverance, Philippians 4:13

Thankful

February 16, 2012 By Lisa Lewis

 

Ever have one of those days?  You know the kind: the coffee pot clogs and water and grounds are all over the counter, the car doesn’t start, all the lights turn red on your way to your appointment and you’re already late?  What about a day when you get in one of those moods? Your clothes are uncomfortable, your coffee is too hot, and something smells bad in the fridge.  Things seem to go from bad to worse each moment.  The merry go round is going and you want to get off!  How do you stop it?  The best way to throw on the brakes that I have tried is to stop!

 

But it takes more than just telling myself this attitude stinks and I don’t want to be this way.  I have to change my attitude.  The only thing I have found that actually works for me is to force myself to name good things that happened that day.  There are good things happening all the time but when I am in “one of those moods” I don’t see them.  I have to stop and remind myself of what they are.  So the question becomes, What am I thankful for?

 

Sometimes I have to start with the basics: the air I am breathing, a body that is working, water to drink.  But once I get going, recognizing the many things I have to be thankful for I can literally feel my muscles relax and the tense, yucky attitude fades.  It isn’t easy to get there, I really have to force myself out of the bad attitude sometimes.  I have been challenged on many occasions by how opposite my head and heart feel from the straightforward words of Paul …”in everything, give thanks.”  What has really helped me is remembering that change is a process it’s not as simple as flipping a light switch: on – off- on – off.  I have to cultivate thankfulness.  That takes focused attention.

 

If you need help with this like I do, I have a book recommendation for you.  It is life changing!  1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  Her writing style is very poetic and visual; as I read I could see the road she spoke of, the trees she described.  But she has an economy of words that I admire; a way of writing that drew me in but didn’t go on too long.  I don’t want to take away from the value of reading her book, but I loved how she unpacked this idea of being thankful.  If you haven’t read it I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you do.  Then when you start to go down the path of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, you can catch yourself and start a thankful list instead!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 1000 Gifts, attitude, change, thankful

Meet Lisa…

I am a native California girl married to my best friend, Colin; we currently live and work in the Silicon Valley. I am privileged to be mom to two fantastic grown sons, mom-in-law to a wonderful daughter, and recent Mimi to a grand-daughter! On any given Saturday, you can see my hubster and I out on our tandem bike somewhere, enjoying the beauty of creation! Read More…

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