This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

All day long, we are having conversations with ourselves. So much so that we don’t even realize what we are saying. And I am willing to bet that if you go back and listen to every conversation you have had with yourself over the past few days, at least 80% of that inner dialogue would be brutally critical.

It may seem like your inner dialogue is innocent, but neuroscience actually suggests that the way we repeatedly talk to ourselves can influence our beliefs and how we interpret life. The reason manifesting is actually a powerful and effective tool is that your brain cannot actively perceive reality. In my psychology class, I learned that our brains use two techniques to help create our own realities. These two techniques are confirmation bias and the illusory truth effect.

Confirmation bias is when the brain actively searches for information that confirms our existing beliefs while ignoring evidence that contradicts them. For example, let’s say you meet someone at a party and become convinced that they didn’t like you. On the way home, you might replay the conversation in your head, focusing on the moments when they gave short answers or seemed disengaged.

Those moments become evidence that your assumption was correct, and your brain will choose to only remember those details. At the same time, you may overlook the moment they laughed at your joke or showed true interest in your life. That is the power of confirmation bias.

The illusory truth effect is when we repeat statements enough that we eventually learn to accept them as true. This is one of the most powerful tools used in manifesting because repeatedly imagining or affirming something can trick your mind into believing you have already achieved that desired outcome.

But the illusory truth effect can also work against us. That’s why even small negative comments we make about ourselves can be incredibly damaging.

Think about it this way. If a friend repeatedly told you that you were stupid, a failure or ugly, you would probably quickly recognize that this is a harmful friendship. Yet many of us say those exact things to ourselves every day and never take a moment to question them.

I can’t tell you how many times I have looked in the mirror and criticized the way my body looks. Or how many times I have told myself “I can’t do math” and “I’m so bad at math.” Or how many times I have looked at my acne scars and told myself I am less pretty because of them. And the more I do this and repeat those statements about myself, the more my brain begins to believe them. That is the illusory truth effect at play.

In my psychology class, we also learned about the brain’s neuroplasticity. This is the brain’s ability to rewire itself by forming new connections between nerve cells. When you learn a new skill, for example, the brain creates new neural connections. The more often you repeat a thought or action, the stronger the neural pathway becomes, making it more difficult to rewire your brain in the future.

This means that when you develop a new negative belief about yourself, your brain creates a new connection between nerve cells as if you have just learned something new. And the more you repeat that negative belief, the stronger that pathway can become.

I know that was a lot of science, but all of this goes to show why the way we speak to ourselves matters so much. If we are constantly reinforcing negative beliefs, we are essentially shaping those beliefs into our reality. This is why it is important to become aware of our negative self-talk, so that we can catch ourselves and begin to reframe those thoughts into more positive ones.

In this day and age, self-love can be especially difficult when we have so many different platforms that create endless opportunities for comparison. But we have to remember that self-love starts with the way we speak to ourselves. So next time you catch yourself being hit with that harsh inner dialogue, pause for a moment and take some time to reframe those thoughts into something more positive. After all, the voice you hear most often is your own.

What Neuroscience Tells Us About Negative Self-Talk

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