by Mark Willis, Stake Mental / Emotional Support Specialist

This month I listened to a powerful podcast that invited me to put pieces of my life together in ways that I hadn’t seen before so that I could more powerfully answer the question, “Who am I.”

Geoff Steuer interviewed Todd Sylvester around the subject of, “Why healthy self-talk matters in recovery.” Todd speaks from the context as someone who spent years in the grip of multiple addictions. A significant part of Todd’s journey to sobriety and long-term recovery was the realization that the way he saw himself impacted his drive to numb out and escape.

Consider listening to the 45-minute podcast here about how each of us can improve our self-talk to accelerate and deepen our healing process.

What might we be healing from if it’s not the multidimensional addiction that Todd speaks from?  Anything that is undesirable in our lives and that limits how we embrace who we really are can be reframed through better understanding the stories we tell ourselves and following a pattern of 3 R’s:

1) Recognizing the negative thought

2) Refusing the thought

3) Replacing the thought

Do the words I think and believe about myself really matter?   Do I believe that I can connect with people in deep, meaningful ways?  Do I still have worth and value when I am working to overcome something and find that I don’t have a large cheering section?  Is it really possible that adversity is my wake-up call to greatness?  Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes!

I am learning that when I open my heart and allow truths about who I am, and whose I am, then I can reject the message that there is something wrong with me and allow myself more space to have productive self-talk that brings me closer to Christ.