Is Talking To Yourself Good Or Bad? Discover The 8 Benefits Of Thinking Out Loud
Do you think you’re crazy for talking to yourself? Do you know if it is normal for people to talk to themselves? Discover the benefits of thinking out loud and how these internal dialogues can help you.
Are you one of those who talks to himself out loud? Despite what is commonly perceived, talking to ourselves is normal and also denotes that our brain is healthy. People who talk to themselves not only show that they enjoy good mental health but it is also a clear sign that they have a healthy brain.
«I talk with the man who always goes with me
—whoever speaks only hopes to speak to God one day—;
my soliloquy is a conversation with that good friend
The soliloquy, or what is the same, talk alone with that faithful friend who always accompanies you, is a reflection that a person can have with themselves that can be out loud but also internal and mental. So much so that the verb soliloquiar exists to refer to people who talk to themselves, a custom that, far from being harmful or denoting that we have lost our reason or sanity, increases our capacity for perception and our intellect.
That is at least what is evidenced by a study published in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychologywhich puts on the table the results of an investigation carried out on twenty people who were in the habit of talk alone The analysis revealed that talking to oneself favors the ability to concentrate and perceive the world around us, which allows us to discern more clearly what interests us and focus our attention there, reducing distractions. One of the clearest consequences of this ability is that we are more effective and more decisive, which translates into an increase in our performance and an ease in learning new concepts.
Furthermore the people talking to themselves They increase the ability to concentrate, allowing us to control our thoughts, feelings and cognitive reactions better, which is a real advantage on an emotional and psychological level, but also mentally. Likewise, researchers have highlighted that speaking alone is extremely beneficial for our language. Improves linguistic ability and the way we present ideas to others.
Experts also highlight that, on an emotional level, soliloquy is an excellent way to keep our self-esteem intact, even improving it. How many times have we talked alone in front of the mirror to practice a conversation? It gives us security and self-confidence. It is also an excellent way to motivate yourself, especially at times when we may feel afraid or insecure about a new challenge. If you are one of those who like to talk to yourself, you have nothing to worry about. Your brain is fine, and your emotions are under control.
Benefits of talking to yourself
There are many studies that reveal that people who talk to themselves end up stimulating certain areas of the brain that provide multiple benefits to the person who practices it. So much so that even though many people who talk to themselves or have the habit of speak up They see it as a problem, the reality is that dialogue is only an act that we should all practice. According to various psychological studies, a person who starts talking alone has the following advantages.
1. Promotes social skills
The people who talk to themselves They can practice soliloquy in order to improve their relationships and social skills. In this way, some dialogues are kept in mind to put into practice in front of others and to be able to establish better links with others. It is also a great way to train public speaking skills.
2. Motivation
Speaking out loud with oneself or talking to oneself can help empower us to overcome any type of obstacle. In this way, when a person talking to himself reminds himself of his own goals or why he does certain types of tasks, he ends up motivating himself to achieve success in her life.
3. Decision making
On some occasions the people end up talking to them themselves to discuss or reason some decision-making. This is not only positive for unraveling the causes of one path or another, but it is also an effective way to know ourselves and know what we really want.
4. Improves self-esteem
When the people who talk to themselves They congratulate themselves on their achievements or on the small things they achieve in their daily lives that increase their self-esteem and security. In this way, speaking out loud or speaking only to see the good side of what you do is a very effective exercise to end our insecurities.
Talk to yourself It can help us clarify certain errors and why we do not achieve our objectives. If this self-talk is used positively, it can help us better tolerate our frustrations and try to learn from them.
6. Stimulates memory
By talking alone we stimulate our sensory mechanisms. In this way a person speaking loudly with itself it can facilitate the memory of certain information since a word is better visualized. Therefore, thinking out loud or talking to yourself can help you better remember and integrate certain knowledge.
7. Helps concentration
Talking to yourself is also good for encouraging concentration on a task. In addition, it can also help you improve productivity in certain activities or actions. This happens because at speaking out loud Your brain immediately imagines the image of that object or knowledge, thus making it easier to visualize that idea. Therefore, it helps you perform any type of activity better.
8. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the ability to be in the present. Although it may seem like an easy action to achieve, the reality is that taking control of our mind so that it does not go into the future or the past is a much more difficult task than it seems at first glance. Thus, talk to yourself or talk out loud It can help us focus on the present and enjoy every moment.
How to talk better to yourself?
Despite all the benefits that can be obtained people talking to themselves, there are some dialogues that can be negative. For this reason, there are some techniques you can practice to try to establish a good attitude towards your positive self-talk.
As a complement
One of the best uses of speak out loud or talk to yourself It is precisely to give ourselves our own compliments. This way, he can use this self-talk to congratulate yourself for every little action you do well. This way you will not only be able to enjoy a healthier self-esteem but you will also end up leaving any type of insecurity behind.
Motivational
As we have already seen, one of the benefits of a person talking alone It is precisely to use these words to be able to motivate yourself in the face of any type of obstacle. This is really useful when you have to do tasks that are boring.
External dialogue
You can use this external dialogue to make a difficult decision. Therefore, you must speaking out loud to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two paths you want to take. Then you will only have to create a debate with yourself to make the decision. One of the advantages of people who talk to themselves very often is precisely that they do not require anyone’s opinion to make their most important decisions.
Set goals
Talking alone can help you better organize your plans to achieve each of your purposes. To achieve it you just have to speak up each of the steps you must take to reach your successes. This way you will mentally visualize everything you have to do and this will help you be clearer about how to reach that goal.
As we have seen, talking to yourself has many benefits. Although there are all these advantages, the reality is that this type of behavior can also have a negative side. In these cases, when the internal dialogue is pessimistic and full of attacks on oneself, it is very likely that it is pointing to a psychological problem and the help of a mental health professional is required. Talking to yourself is bad when the following signs exist.
Hallucinations
When a person talking alone If he does it because he hears voices that are not his own or other delusions, it is very likely that we are dealing with a case of schizophrenia. Therefore, it is vital to be attentive to this type of hallucinations.
Negative dialogue
Talk alone but with the use of constantly negative or respectful words towards oneself, it is a clear sign that there is a mental problem. If reproaches or insults are present in your soliloquies, it is very likely that you suffer from depression or low self-esteem.
Recurring thoughts
Rumination or obsessive thoughts can infest our minds. In some cases a person talking alone He suffers from this stagnation in the past and chooses to think out loud as an escape from all the discomfort that those thoughts cause him. When you suffer from this abusive relationship with yourself, it is necessary to go to a psychologist.
Talking to yourself can be good or bad depending on the use we give to that dialogue with ourselves. As we can see, our inner voice reveals a lot of information about our personality and mental health. Enjoying our conversations is a clear sign that we are happy with who we have become.
