Internal Dialogue - Real Deep Dive - Deane Vipond

About Toolbox Quizzes

Simply being aware of some aspects which drive and influence our daily lives is a powerful first step to turning inward with curiosity and care, and which may initiate further ideas/choices.

Quizzes can be conducted with or without a support person, and are useful for individuals to:

Build better awareness of how they see themselves.
Explore their inner world with curiosity, not judgment.
Support emotional wellbeing, creative expression, and personal growth.

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Aid counsellors and psychologists to use these tools at their own discretion.
Coach and educate to foster metacognition and reflective learning.
Further narrative therapy, dialogical therapy, and cognitive-behavioural approaches.

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The choice to use any tool or topic quiz is made freely by the individual. Quizzes provided have been selected, reviewed and determined by qualified professionals appropriately fit-for-purpose and hail either from legitimate academic studies or research, or examples as currently used by health professionals. Permissions for reproduction and use has been gained by the content owners, where applicable. Supporting material is available in ‘Resources’. Our charter is not in the business of gathering email addresses for promotional campaigns or bombarding users with offers of any kind. The tools provided are FREE to use and designed for individuals in any stage of interest or curiosity. Basic advice relating to quiz results are provided automatically. Follow up on any matter herein is entirely in the hands of the induvial. No future automated correspondence with users is intended, or implied. Users can leave (or de-register, if activating that function) at any time.

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Internal Dialogue – Real Deep Dive

We can slant our self-chatter negatively, positively, or anywhere in between. Most of us aren’t even aware when we do it, and less so again of the influence over time. Even singing associative phrases forms part of our internal dialogue. Further, there is mounting evidence to suggest that matters on which we focus can and do become our reality. Undertaking a self-audit here can simply involve asking this question: ‘Am I happy to accept this as being my reality?’ It’s really that simple.

If self-chatter influences our current and future realities, then it’s probably wise to at least take stock of and consider what improved self-chatter (if any) might sound like. While perhaps sweeping assertions on the virtues of positive internal dialogue need to be met with some caution, if self-chatter leans more toward becoming a negative affirmation, then we need to be particularly alert. Of additional interest here is when such internal dialogue (becoming affirmations) is driven home from anger, jealousy, revenge, selfishness, spitefulness, or greed, then thoughts or dialogue are even less likely to encourage any useful outcomes, but in fact tend to trigger our physical negative-bias and may influence us more negatively again. (Misery attracts company as they say!) And there are plenty of mind-set and motivational mind set books out there specifically on this subject.

But surely if our Sub is such a deep and meaningful entity, is it not ‘wise’ enough to make a distinction and judgement call on which are good and bad inputs? Why would our Sub buy into our incidental banter or silly games?? Well, unfortunately (and fortunately) it does. Our Sub is like a sponge soaking up everything to which it is exposed and digesting it as if things are real and true. Encompassing negative self-chatter in combination with an already poor self-image can further support and drive home an unnecessary reality which can be difficult to manage or even address.

A little like making a call to respect your nearest and dearest by eliminating all those little verbal daggers, jabs and jibes, which can accumulate over time into a serious ‘knife wound’. For some, ‘do unto others’ will be ringing in their ears. And, despite a lack of conclusive scientific proof in this area, there is a movement here at least erring toward caution. After all, how bad could things possibly get if we were simply more positive to ourselves with own our internal dialogue?

Rinse and repeat.

The nature and power of repetition with our internal dialogue also needs consideration. One off ‘cracks’ at oneself are unlikely to lay a disastrous foundation for our future, but rot can easily set in. We create and breed bad habits, which can be tricky to break. Repetition itself is widely regarded a critical technique in early learning, especially in education. The act of repeating not only paves a way for better memory recall, but it also flows past the very thing on which are focussed to create a bed of understanding for the wider topic or subject. Have a ponder on that. Simply by repeating an act we automatically begin to gain a deeper understanding of the surrounding or wider aspects to which we are repeating. Leaning guitar is an excellent example. We stumble, we fumble on, we doubt ourselves, we persist, we get better, we give it more time, we might spend time away from it, we then come back, we are surprisingly better, we keep going, we find we get better again, and start enjoying guitar, we keep going, we then move from plucking to sliding the strings, and if we do this often enough and for long enough we start to feel how that whole thing works and gain a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the whole kit and caboodle – just through repetition. It’s almost as if the act of simply repeating unlocks doorways to much wider and deeper deserved rewards.

Based on the vast global adoption and use of repetition, especially with early learning, one must assume there sits a degree of collective agreeance on its merits. Well, same goes for what we repeatedly put into ourselves – garbage in, garbage out. It might seem odd to form a convincing argument for the re-use of such simple and boring methods (such as repetition) but we do seem to drift away from them, and they do deserve more credentialed spot in history. Perhaps an ‘adult-hooded’ community considers unworthy of such basic tools for a sophisticated screen-focussed society? A maturing population can’t seriously be asked to considered themes of their earliest childhood, can they? Well, why not.