Usually, we don’t need to talk ourselves into doing the right thing. When we do something bad it’s because we’ve talked ourselves out of doing the right thing.

A mother doesn’t have to talk herself into taking care of her child. She would have to talk herself out of taking care of her child.

People don’t naturally wage war. They have to talk themselves out of being peaceful.

It has a lot to do with the stories we tell ourselves. Starting from an early age. Kindergarten children are generally good natured and well behaved, but some of them will be doing terrible things by the time they become teenagers. Things happen in their life that cause them to tell themselves a story. A story that convinces them not to follow their inherent good nature.

Think about your own behavior. For you to go around wreaking havoc you’d have to talk yourself into it. It doesn’t come natural. Even in war-torn countries only a minority of the people get involved in the civil conflict and looting. Most people are on the side of peace. That’s our default nature.