In an effort to “promote constructive thinking and behavior by saying something positive,” Flo Stanton, South Campus coordinator of health services, presented Positive Self-Talk to South students.
“Self-talk reflects values and behaviors we learned as children,” Stanton said during the March 3 speech.
Environmental factors play a large role in how individuals speak to themselves as adults, and although it is hard to break negative habits, it is possible with effort, Stanton said.
During the speech, Stanton presented objectives to help students identify the language of “downers” vs. “uppers.”
A downer is a conversation within an individual that negatively affects the person’s psyche.
Downers increase existing stress and can create new stress, and stress has a negative effect on the body as well, Stanton said.
Downers such as “I can’t,” “I hate this” or “I’m stupid” should be replaced with uppers like, “Yes, I can” and “I can do it,” Stanton said.
Doing things based on guilt, rather than truly wanting to is also a negative tactic, she said.
South Campus student Edgar Gabriel said the presentation taught him that he needed more “I can do it” language in his self-talk.
Makeda McNeil, a South Campus student in the Women in New Roles program that sponsored the event, said presentations like Positive Self-Talk are a tremendous help.
McNeil said she recently returned to school after graduating from high school in 1992.
McNeil said Positive Self-Talk helped her “learn to adjust regular life to being a student and how to manage the two.”
— Troy Bassett
