Self-talk and listening to yourself

Today was a hard day to get up despite going to bed at 9:00 last night!  I was right in the middle of a deep sleep so when the alarm went off at 5:00 I was definately not feeling it.  But once again that GOOD voice came through telling me to just get up and go.  So I did! :)
.
I'm learning that self-talk really helps.  When it was first suggested to me it was really hard to put into practice.  In the aftermath of an event I was asked if I had "talked" to myself and for me it's often not until the event is over that I look back and see where I could have used "self talk" but when I'm right in the middle of whatever it is, I'm so focused on that thing that I forget, or don't think about, doing the self-talk.  So it's definately a work in progress.  Remembering to self-talk is the key!
.
When you've spent your whole life listening to the negative voice, whether it's external or internal, it's hard to believe the positive voice, either external or internal.  One things I'm proud of in myself is that when I hear or see something and my first thoughts are negative, I take a step back and consciously look for the things that are positive about it and focus on those.  And let me tell you that it goes a long way towards changing my attitude!
.
Moral of the story:  Talk to yourself in a positive way, and more so - LISTEN!
.

I took Cowboy on my walk this morning!

.

He's a good little walker except that he feels the need to mark Every. Single. Tree. that we come across and as you can tell by my fuzzy picture....

there's a LOT of them!  They're planted like this the entire course of our walk! :)  Our community is a "tree community" ~ an honor from the Arbor Day Foundation so it makes for a beautiful walk with all the differenct trees and in such abundance!
.
So Cowboy gets a good little workout.  He runs to one tree and I walk past while he's marking it and when I'm about halfway to the next tree his leash gets taut so I call him and he runs past me to the next tree and so on!  So he doesn't hinder my walk at all and he gets to run from tree to tree to tree!
.
I'm feeling good from my commitment these last 3 days.  One day at a time!  My feeling of "good" is more mental at this point that physical ~ which is fine.  I know that what I'm doing will improve my physical well-being over time and right now it's awesome to feel good inside, to know that the choices I'm making are healthy and will lead me one by one to my goal of RUNNING!