This week, a conversation with health and wellness guru, Systema For Life regular, and possessor of relentlessly regular bowel movements. Here, we ponder the subject of self-talk, which one way or the other has become louder and more frequent over the last, lonely year. We're often told by therapists, leadership gurus, and cocky celebrities that self-talk is all-important - the difference between success and failure. But how important is self-talk, really? What role does it play in our health, our decisions, and our self-development?

Here, we discuss:

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• Positive and negative self-talk
  
• The problem of excessive thinking and rumination
  
• Cognitive (versus behavioural or body-based) solutions
  
• Progressive / attenuated experience as the antidote to fear and self-doubt
  

Follow Howie at plantyourself.com, and buy his book (co-authored with Josh Lajaunie) Sick to Fit, on Amazon.com.