Even as we move on to other subjects to explore in these experiments in conscious living, I find myself moved to ask all of us to remember that there continue to be many people affected by the recent hurricanes who need our prayers, donations, and efforts to help them recover from the devastation they have experienced. It’s often so easy to move on in life and forget that, once the immediate crisis has passed, there continues to be profound need. And so, my invitation is for all of us to keep ourselves actively engaged in whatever ways work for each of us in assisting in the recovery work going on in the areas hit by the recent hurricanes.

That said, for this week, I’d like to explore the quality of our ongoing, internal self-talk, which is a form of self-hypnosis when you think about it. We constantly talk to ourselves, even when we’re not consciously aware that we’re doing so. Take a moment, right now, to listen to the stream of commentary that is most probably running through your mind. Notice what you say to yourself about you, about your world, about the future, about the past. The quality of our internal commentary has a tangible effect on the quality of our life experience, the risks we’re willing to take in the world, and how open we feel toward life, its gifts, and challenges.

Most of us would benefit from choosing to generate more compassionate and kind self-talk, and to give ourselves permission to stop any negative self-talk mid-sentence and immediately focus our awareness on something more supportive and self-empowering. We know that the brain creates neural pathways that allow behaviors to become more automatic, and the goal here is to generate self-talk that is more automatically constructive and helpful.

Think of the number of times you may have criticized yourself, and how that self-criticism actually stopped you or slowed you down. Instead of its moving you closer to your desired outcome, it generally does the opposite. If you’ve had the experience of talking kindly to yourself, of thinking about what you’re doing that’s right rather than wrong, you’ll have noticed that encouraging self-talk moves you toward your goals and supports feelings of satisfaction and enjoyment rather than discouragement or disappointment.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to monitor – gently and without judgment – the self-talk that moves through your mind on the constantly-present stream of consciousness. Whenever you notice that you are speaking to yourself in a critical or shame-based way, explore what happens if you drop that thought – the way a ripe apple drops from a tree – and shift your focus to a thought that supports you. It will help if you generate some supportive thoughts ahead of time, when you have an opportunity to experience what thoughts feel best to you.

At first, the exercise is likely to feel mechanical and, in a literal sense, it is. You’re actively creating a new neural pathway, and that takes conscious effort. In time, after consistently shifting from negative to more constructive and supportive self-talk, you’ll find that the shift comes more spontaneously with much less effort. In fact, in time, you are likely to find that you don’t move into self-criticism nearly as often, and it may even feel quite alien and uncomfortable when you do.

As with all the experiments, please allow yourself to engage this one without judgment. Instead, I invite you to bring curiosity along as your constant companion, and to notice the difference in how you feel and what you do when you are the recipient of a more available, more constant stream of constructive and supportive self-talk.