The Power of Words
Words are magical! Powerful words can hold us spellbound as they enchant and mystify us, rally us into action or crush our spirit down into depths of despair. Words can be weapons, or gentle as a mother’s lullaby. Words can sell us, move us, cheer us and land us in hot water. We connect with our tribe through words. Words can woo, tickle and flatter us, and yes, words can cause irreparable harm. And if the words alone weren’t powerful enough, there’s tone, inflection and punctuation adding to their arsenal. Words carry energy. I love words, I admire words, and I respect the power of words! Words will be a common theme in this blog (and yes, I know there’s a pun in there somewhere) because I think as a society we’ve forgotten to honor the power of the word. For starters, here’s a few words I have about words:
Mind your thoughts. Thoughts carry the same power as words, which isn’t surprising since we process thoughts as words. I used to jokingly say, “My mind isn’t a safe neighborhood to venture in alone.” My self-dialog was mean, degrading and downright abusive at times. One of the first things I tackled when I began my work in self-love was to mind how I spoke to and about myself. I used to mistake humility for demeaning myself, and I thought it was humorous to poke and jab at myself, after all, you don’t want to take yourself too seriously, right? And the theme of not-good-enough just simply wasn’t true, so why did I spend so much time telling myself I wasn’t good enough for… [fill in the blank]? It was exhausting! Be kind, be gentle and be loving in your thoughts and words to and about yourself because your thoughts are the direct influencer on your feelings and behavior. Loving thoughts will grow loving actions, and loving words will grow loving behavior. Loving actions and behavior will change the world! And to think, it all begins with words!
Stop complaining. What we focus on, we receive. We pray, we ask, we beg for good things to come into our lives, all the while complaining about our current state of affairs. I repeat, what we focus on, we get. We don’t focus on the many things beautiful and right in our lives, we complain and focus on what’s wrong or missing. Take Max, for example. Everything that could possibly go wrong, happened to Max. There was always another tale of woe and misery. His every sentence began with, “You won’t believe what happened now.” Max focused on what was going to go wrong with his life. And it did. I believe his thoughts and words created his reality.
Complaining is easy, we all do it. I don’t think we realize how much we do it. Change your thoughts and your words, and you will change your reality. First step begins with being grateful for your life as it is today, right now. Even your tales of woe and misery can be reframed into brighter, more positive pictures. It may ring false at first, saying thank you for something you would prefer wasn’t happening, but over time it will shift your thinking. If the big woes are too hard to reframe as something positive, start with the little things. Positive reframing is a new habit that can only be learned through repetitive effort.
Or, if gratitude seems a stretch, you can just laugh at the foibles of your life. Sometimes the things life throws at us are completely absurd. There is always humor to be found in the absurd. I think God has a good sense of humor and appreciates us being to laugh and find joy in our lives. Joy begins when complaining stops.
