Sports Psychology and the art of feeling good about yourself....or not

falls in the area of self image and self talk people have mental patterns they return to like trails they walk people do carry their low self esteem into the water I've trained with self loathing low self esteemed world record holders. We become what we think about. Thoughts become things. When negative thoughts appear, let them drift by or replace them with something constructive. the NLP swish technique might work. If you want, you have all the controls to your mind. You can turn the volume up or down. You can make images bright or dim. You can move the screen far or near. You can visualize yourself from your own set of eyes or as a narrator would from the side. You may not be able to stop what your subconscious throws at you, but you can decide what to do with it once it does. and you can work to imprint new mental habit patterns to become the you you wanna be. Ande Originally posted by Fishgrrl Confession time: I struggle with a committee in my head (and I've tried to ignore 'em) that tells me things like...."you suck"..."you'll never get any better", blah blah blah. Now that BillS has encouraged me to delete that dreaded work from my lexicon, I am sure that another one will pop up. I know this is kind of a rant....but how does one really feel good about themselves as a swimmer yet avoid being delusional? Seriously....how do you keep a balance of positive thinking while being able to honestly regard how you swim and what needs to change/improve? What do you guys do? Is it good coaching, simply having a solid self esteem in the first place....?? Is it simply that people carry their low self esteem into the water...if so, how do you overcome that...? Thoughts?? What in the world is sports psychology anyway?

falls in the area of self image and self talk people have mental patterns they return to like trails they walk people do carry their low self esteem into the water I've trained with self loathing low self esteemed world record holders. We become what we think about. Thoughts become things. When negative thoughts appear, let them drift by or replace them with something constructive. the NLP swish technique might work. If you want, you have all the controls to your mind. You can turn the volume up or down. You can make images bright or dim. You can move the screen far or near. You can visualize yourself from your own set of eyes or as a narrator would from the side. You may not be able to stop what your subconscious throws at you, but you can decide what to do with it once it does. and you can work to imprint new mental habit patterns to become the you you wanna be. Ande Originally posted by Fishgrrl Confession time: I struggle with a committee in my head (and I've tried to ignore 'em) that tells me things like...."you suck"..."you'll never get any better", blah blah blah. Now that BillS has encouraged me to delete that dreaded work from my lexicon, I am sure that another one will pop up. I know this is kind of a rant....but how does one really feel good about themselves as a swimmer yet avoid being delusional? Seriously....how do you keep a balance of positive thinking while being able to honestly regard how you swim and what needs to change/improve? What do you guys do? Is it good coaching, simply having a solid self esteem in the first place....?? Is it simply that people carry their low self esteem into the water...if so, how do you overcome that...? Thoughts?? What in the world is sports psychology anyway?