The Powerful You Self-Talk Alphabet: Words Children—and Adults—Can Carry With Them

For years, I had the privilege of working with children as a school counselor. One of my favorite parts of that work was going into classrooms each week and teaching a Powerful You lesson.

The lessons focused on the life skills children need as they grow—things like adjusting to change, belonging, handling difficult emotions, believing in themselves, and learning how to navigate challenges.

But I wanted the children to have more than just a lesson they might remember.

I wanted to give them words they could carry with them.

One Letter at a Time

That’s how the Powerful You Self-Talk Alphabet became part of our classroom routine.

Each week, along with our Powerful You lesson, the children learned a piece of self-talk connected to a letter of the alphabet.

A — I adjust to change.

B — I belong.

We would talk about what the words meant, connect them to things happening in their own lives, and practice saying them together.

Then we would add another letter.

And another.

Week by week, the children’s Powerful You vocabulary grew.

I could simply say:

“A!”

And the whole classroom would respond:

“I adjust to change!”

Then I would say:

“B!”

And they would answer:

“I belong!”

We would continue through the letters we had learned until eventually we made it all the way to Z.

By the end of the year, the children could recite the entire Powerful You Self-Talk Alphabet.

And they were SO proud of themselves!

But I was proud of them for another reason.

They hadn’t just memorized an alphabet.

They had learned 26 positive messages they could call upon when life got difficult.

Then I Realized I Was Using It, Too

Over the years, I discovered something I hadn’t expected.

The self-talk wasn’t only for the kids.

I found myself coming back to these same words during difficult times in my own life.

When I was facing a challenge, going through a change, or noticing that my thoughts were heading in a direction that wasn’t helping me, one of those familiar pieces of self-talk would come back to me.

They helped me pause.

They helped me shift my thinking.

And sometimes they reminded me of something I already knew but simply needed to hear again.

That’s when I realized the Powerful You Self-Talk Alphabet really isn’t just for children.

It’s for all of us.

We all have moments when our inner voice tells us, I can’t do this. I don’t belong. This is too hard. I’m not ready.

Positive self-talk doesn’t mean pretending that difficult things aren’t difficult. It gives us another voice to bring into those moments—a voice that reminds us of our strength, our choices, and what we are capable of.

The Powerful You Book and Self-Talk Alphabet

The Powerful You Self-Talk Alphabet corresponds with the Powerful You Book, so the two resources can be used together.

The stories and lessons help children explore important life skills, while the Self-Talk Alphabet gives them simple language they can remember and use in everyday life.

My hope is that families, teachers, counselors, and children can use these words the same way we did in my classrooms—not just reading them once, but practicing them until they become familiar.

You might even find, as I did, that the words you are teaching the children in your life are the very words you need to hear, too.

Because sometimes a small shift in the way we talk to ourselves can create a big shift in the way we move through our day.

One letter at a time.
One powerful thought at a time.
One more way to discover the Powerful You inside each of us.