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Becoming Aware of Your Self-Talk

The first step in changing your inner self-talk is to pay attention to the sorts of thoughts that frequently go through your mind right now. What messages are you telling yourself?  Spend several days becoming aware of the way you talk to yourself internally.  Write down the thoughts that pass through your mind so that you can review them.  Are your statements about yourself mostly positive or mostly negative? Do your thoughts reflect confidence in your own abilities? Or are you constantly yelling at yourself for your mistakes and shortcomings?  Are you berating yourself for being stupid, lazy, or unsuccessful?

Instead of focussing on your current negative self-assessments, focus instead on the kind of person would you like to be. What personal qualities do you want to have? Write down a description of how you would like to be and how you would like to perceive yourself. Write out some simple phrases that express the desired qualities as something that you have right now.

When you start using affirmations, it is important to think about the positive qualities you want to exhibit as a person. Do you want to be more creative, more positive, more resourceful, and more confident?  You will not build confidence in yourself by saying, “I’m so stupid,” or “I always mess things up”.

How to Word Affirmations

It’s important to learn how to phrase affirmations correctly.  Affirmations work best when they are simple, powerful, positive statements.

To be effective, affirmations should be worded in the present tense, not the future. For example, don’t use a phrase such as, “I am going to become more intelligent” or, “I would like to be smarter”.  Instead, construct a phrase set in the present tense, describing yourself as already having those qualities you desire. For example, say to yourself, “I am very intelligent”. Or, “I grow smarter every day.”

When you create an affirmation, focus on the positive qualities you wish to have.  Don’t focus on negative qualities you don’t wish to have.  Avoid using an affirmation like, “I am no longer stupid”, or “I no longer hate learning”.

These statements are too focused on the qualities you don’t want, but they don’t tell your brain in a simple way what quality you do want.  Your subconscious will respond best to simple, strong statements, worded in the present.

Here are some sample affirmations you may wish to use. Try them, or if you prefer, start making up some of your own. 

“I am a good learner.”
“It is easy for me to learn.”

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How to Motivate Yourself for Study Projects

When we are faced with a study project that seems exceptionally difficult and overwhelming, it can be to maintain a high level of interest and motivation for the duration of the learning process.  You can improve both your motivation and your performance by breaking up the project into smaller sections, and then giving yourself a series of well thought-out, well-timed rewards each time you complete one of the parts.

The first step is to break up the project into manageable chunks.  If you have a deadline looming, use this information to decide how much of the project to tackle at one time.  Let’s say you have six weeks to master the content of a difficult biology text. Looking through the book you realize that if you study one chapter each night, you can get through the book in 28 days, leaving two weeks in which you can again review the material.

With this knowledge you can pace yourself. You know what your assignment is.  You know how much you need to read every night. Concentrate on the immediate task at hand. You don’t need to feel overwhelmed by the entire book at one time. Next, work out a system of rewards for yourself.  Give yourself a series of small rewards each time you master one chapter, and a larger reward for completing the entire book.

For rewards to work they must be immediate, and personally meaningful to you.  There is no point in rewarding yourself with a new fishing rod if you hate fishing. 

The reward should be proportionate to the effort you have put into the work. Buying a new car as a reward for finishing the textbook is probably too much. Getting a gold star is probably too little.  Take some time to think of rewards that will really inspire you.  In general, you should avoid using rewards that involve food or money.

Rewards don’t need to be material objects if there is something else that would really motivate and inspire you. How about attending a special concert, or taking a special trip? You decide.  Get creative and think of something that will spur you to take action.

It’s very important that the reward take place soon after the work has been accomplished.  This creates a sense of positive reinforcement. Give yourself a small reward every time you finish a small part of the job, and a bigger reward when the project is completed.  If there is too long a gap between the activity and the reward, it will not have the effect of reinforcing the desired activity.

After all, you wouldn’t train a dog by giving him a treat two days after he learned to roll over!  You might not like being compared to a dog, but as silly as it sounds, our brain also responds to simple, positive reinforcement.  Use this tendency of the brain to help yourself accomplish more of what you want.

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Mindfulness

One way to improve your ability to pay attention is through the practice of mindfulness. To practice mindfulness means you commit yourself completely to experiencing the present moment.  It means being totally present, with your full consciousness, wherever you are, whatever you are doing.

When you are washing the dishes, you are totally present in the act of washing the dishes. You are only experiencing washing the dishes.  You are not washing the dishes and also watching television, or talking on the telephone, or thinking about your shopping list or a problem at the office.

This is very different from how most of us live. Practicing mindfulness means giving up one of the most pervasive features of modern life—multitasking. Many people believe the only way to get all their jobs done is to try do two or three of them at the same time.

We can eventually become so used to having a fractured attention span that we can no longer relax and simply concentrate on one thing at a time. When we lose our ability to be in the present moment, we will be unable to fully experience the pleasures or sorrows life is bringing us.  We will be too busy being elsewhere in our minds.

We may need to practice to gain back this ability to concentrate.  Practicing meditation can help to rebuild the ability to focus. You can also increase your ability to be mindful in the present by simply reminding yourself frequently to “Be here now”, or “Pay attention”. Then take a few seconds or a few minutes to bring yourself into total awareness of the present moment. When you are fully present in the moment, you do not need to keep your mind busy thinking.  You do not need to be running a commentary about everything in your mind.   Just feel yourself existing in the present, experiencing fully what there is to experience.

Why would someone want to do this? Some people do this as a religious discipline. Others do it as form of mind training.  Some do it because it is profoundly relaxing. People who practice mindfulness find that their life becomes far simpler, less stressful, and that they are able to find joy in the simplest things.

Common Learning Disorders

If you have difficulty focussing on what you read or what you hear, there can be a variety of reasons for this common problem. You may be feeling very stressed and overscheduled, or you may be suffering from depression. 
 
In some people, problems in reading, concentrating and remembering are caused by electrical, structural or biochemical abnormalities in the brain.  These conditions can be very difficult to diagnose and treat, requiring the services of a competent professional. 

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We can make sure to eat foods that are high in antioxidants. In addition to foods rich in antioxidants, we can also consume nutritional supplements that provide good antioxidant support.

The antioxidants that are particularly useful for protecting the brain are Vitamin C, Vitamin E, alpha-lipoic acid, CoQ10, glutathione, and the bioflavonoids. 

Although glutathione is available as a supplement, it is not recommended that you take it in this form.  Taking glutathione orally does not raise the levels of it in your body. Our bodies are capable of making glutathione as long as we get the right sort of nutritional support. It is more effective to increase our levels of glutathione indirectly by taking in more Vitamin C, selenium and alpha-lipoic acid.

What Are the Bioflavonoids and Where are They Found?

What are bioflavonoids?  These are chemicals that cause the blue and red coloration in many fruits and vegetables. In fact, brightly colored foods and vegetables are your best sources for these important antioxidants.  Although some bioflavonoids are available as supplements in health food stores, it is important to note that fresh fruits and vegetables contain many thousands of different bioflavonoid compounds with antioxidant activity. 

The majority of these compounds have not yet been identified or intensively studied, and they certainly are not available as supplements in health food stores at this time. So, how can you make sure you get the benefits of bioflavonoids?

Make sure your diet includes a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many Americans don’t eat nearly enough. Some people never eat any fruits and vegetables at all!  Aim to get at least five to ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
 
Which fruits and vegetables are best for antioxidant protection? In general, the ones with the strongest, brightest colors tend to have a lot of antioxidants.  Among the best vegetables are garlic, spinach, broccoli, and tomatoes. The best fruits include strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, prunes and raisins. Green tea has also been shown to contain a high level of antioxidants.

Vitamin E

The two vitamins most essential to protect your brain cells from free radical damage are Vitamin C and Vitamin E. Vitamin C is the most important of the water-soluble vitamins. Vitamin E is the most important fat-soluble vitamin.

Remember that the brain is made up of more than 60% fat, which makes it very susceptible to damage from free radicals. Because Vitamin E is fat-soluble, it has a special role in protecting the fatty membranes of the brain cells.  The molecules of Vitamin E can penetrate into the areas where a lot of free radical damage occurs and stop the chain reactions from spreading. .

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