Take this quiz to better understand how your self-talk is influencing your moods
How you talk to yourself has major impacts on how the emotions that you feel. Try this quiz to become aware of how your semi-conscious internal voices may be influencing your moods.
Your Self-Talk Quiz
Rate the frequency from 0 (never) to 5 (very often) that your inner thoughts include the following sentence starters:
1. Good job! Well-done! or an equivalent positive self-evaluation.
2. I’d like to … (and then you do it)
3. Why did I do that?! That was dumb (or a similarly deprecating word)
4. I should …. (followed by something that you don’t want to do but feel you have to)…
5. I shouldn’t have … (followed by something you did)
6. What if …(followed by a possible bad thing that could happen)?
7. He/she/they probably think I’m …(followed by a negative description of yourself)
How to score:
Well–being: Add together your scores on 1 and 2. If they add up to 6 or higher you probably enjoy frequent experience feelings of well-being.
Appreciating good that you have done is uplifting. Being able to identify what you want to do and then doing it also sustains well-being.
Depression: Add together your scores on 3, 4 and 5. If they add up to higher than 3 odds are your thinking habits put you at risk for depression.
Seeing the world as having many shoulds invites caving in to what you really don’t want to do. Criticizing yourself after the fact with arbitrary shoulds and shouldn’t haves similarly sets you up for feel down. Better to switch the sh to a c: I could, or I could have…
Anxiety: Add together your scores on 6 and 7. If they add up to higher than 2, odds are you may be prone to anxiety. Thinking ahead and envisioning negative scenarios that you then begin to believe will really happen creates worry and anxiety. So does thinking about what other people think about you.
Better to keep your thoughts in the present unless you are making actual plans of action for dealing with an up-coming situation. And better to focus on what you are doing rather than
In general, the higher your scores for each category, the more frequently you may inadvertently be inviting that mood in your life.
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Denver psychologist Susan Heitler, PhD (link is external)is author of the Power of Two and interactive online marriage skills program(link is external) that teach the skills for enjoying gratifying relationships.
