We talk to ourselves every day, but most of those conversations are in thought form so they often go unnoticed, sort of under-the-radar of our conscious mind because we’re focused more on what we're doing like your driving, cooking, gardening and such . When you finish reading this blog, you’ll understand how easy it is to sabotage your good intentions, by not awakening when some of these conversations take place.
Here’s an example:
You thinking with conviction, “I want to lose 20 pounds by August 17!”
Your Inner Child wondering, “Why?”
You, “Because my class reunion is that weekend.”
Your Inner Child, “So!”
You, “So, I want to look great. That’s all. Starting today, I’m going to get serious about how many carbs I eat. And cutting out sugar will really help. Oh and I’m going to cut out alcohol until the reunion. I know that the weight I’ve gained in the last couple of years is mainly because of carbs.”
Your Inner Child, “What’s in it for me?”
You, “Well you know how happy I am when I feel good about my body? And how lousy I feel when I feel bloated and my pants hurt because of the extra weight? Did you ever stop to think, when I feel good, you feel good and when I feel bad you do too?”
Your Inner Child, “Yeah, I love it when you feel good because you’re nicer to me. I’m the little kid in you and I get blamed for everything that makes you look immature!”
You, “Okay so are you with me? Shall we do it?”
“Okay!”
One week later at the home of Sarah, a good friend who is celebrating her 39th birthday. It’s a festive event with good friends, great food AND CAKE AND WINE.
Your Inner Child, “Oh look at that cake! It’s chocolate! Let’s have some, okay? Puleeze?”
You, “No, we’ve done so well this week and we’ve lost weight!”
“Only two pounds! It shoulda been more for all the goodies we passed up!”
“Yeah, I know. I’m a little disappointed.”
“Let’s have a glass of wine and think about it. Look, everybody’s drinking some and it’s the kind you like. Oh and look, Betty is having cake and she’s way bigger than you are! If she can have cake, why can’t you?”
“Okay, one glass of wine, but no cake!”
Ten minutes later:
Your inner child, “Everybody is raving about the cake and all we’ve eaten is a bunch of celery, broccoli, carrots and cherry tomatoes. This is NO fun! I WANT CAKE NOW!”
You, “No, we made a deal, and now we’ve already broken it by having two glasses of wine, which you didn't mention.”
Your Inner child, “But the cake looks delicious and if we don’t take some now, it’ll be gone. People are all going in for seconds! Come on, Sarah only has one birthday a year and we can start again tomorrow.”
If you listened to your inner child, you ate cake and she won the argument you had with yourself. If you hadn’t drunk the wine and eaten the cake, you’d have won and you’d have another day under your “smaller” belt.
I’ve found that once a declaration such as, "I’m not going to eat sugar" gets to be a habit (about 21 days) then these back-and-forth conversations stop.
I’ve written two books starring my inner child Nelly. You’ll learn a lot more about how to deal with that little girl in you and I promise, your inner child is the most important piece to the challenge of staying with a commitment you’ve made.
Here are the two books that can help you to get to know and love that little girl in you. Just click on the one you need help with the most.
Note: These two books come in many forms, eBook, print, audio download, audio CDs. I'm closing out the audio CD sets and if you purchase a set you'll get the printed book free.
Go have some fun with your inner child,
P.S. Here's a video on talking with your inner child. Just click on the child.
