Pastoral training with Dr Maryhan Baker: Quietening the Internal Chatter

We all have an internal chatter, a dialogue which narrates our lives; young people are no different. They won’t be aware of this chatter when they are doing something they love or feel confident in; whether that’s bouncing on a trampoline, playing on their electronic device, or riding their bicycle however, when children find themselves in situations they perceive as overwhelming, too hard, or that push them out of their comfort zone, the internal negative chatter becomes overwhelming loud! The chatter could be saying anything from “this is too scary”, “what if I fail?”, “people will laugh at me if I make a mistake”, “something bad will happen”, or “I am not good enough, popular enough, clever enough….or anything enough!!”

Telling children they will be fine, and they have nothing to worry about rarely works. We need something much more powerful; to use their internal chatter more positively (mantras)! The best way we can help our children is to teach them about their own internal chatter and how mantras can be used to take on the voice of their inner cheerleader, willing them to succeed, even when they feel they can’t. Mantras allow children to feel the fear and overwhelm and do it anyway!

This talk will explore how children’s internal chatter drives behaviour and how we can help them use it more positively.

For more information about Dr Baker – Dr Maryhan Baker – Biography