“In the beginning was the word”
So spake the Bible a zillion years ago. But we seem to have forgotten these words of wisdom. We are taught lots of words to use at school but very few of us are taught to be ‘wordsmiths’, to have a love of words or most importantly to respect the power words have over us.
My English teacher instilled in me a love of the English language (I dipped out on love for other languages!). I enthusiastically tried to learn and use a new word every day until I found no one else knew what I was talking about.
Our words often speak volumes to others about our level of education and more importantly, have the power to program our minds.
Listen to yourself over the next few days, both to your internal dialogue and what comes out of your mouth. Are these words common in your vocabulary? It’s a ‘pain in the neck’, ‘a pain in the butt’; ‘ it gets up my nose’; ‘it makes my blood boil’; ‘it kills me’; ‘I’ll die if …’;
If you recognize any of these as frequent visitors to your sentences, beware!
Your subconscious mind hears these phrases as commands. So your ‘pain in the neck’ may not be caused solely by the way you sit; your sinus problems may not all be related to dust; your blood pressure may be affected by threats of making your blood ‘boil’! And who knows what damage is done by repeating the words ‘it kills me when…’.
I was speaking with my good friend Andrew Matthews (author of Being Happy) a few years ago and when I said how lucky he was to catch me as I was just running out of my house, he said to me, ‘I’m always lucky’. What great words to repeat and believe. How many miserable people do you know that moan about how ‘UNlucky they ALWAYS are’. If you say so!
That’s a great phrase to use on anyone who is consistently negative or who uses other than uplifting language. Whenever they claim “I’m always unlucky/ coughing/ sick on holidays/ frantic/ worried/ frightened/ depressed/ stressed etc”, just answer, ‘If you say so!’
See if it has any impact on them! They desperately need to be aware that they are programing in something that will harm, not enhance the quality of their lives.
Did you know that when you say ‘don’t forget to remind me to …’, you actually told the other person’s subconscious mind to ‘forget to remind me’?
If I say to you “don’t think of blue”, what is the first thing you do? Of course, you think of blue! Our subconscious mind hears only the literal message after ‘don’t’.
If possible, also be careful of using the word ‘but’. It usually negates whatever went before it. For example…’She looked lovely BUT the dress was old’ or ‘It’s a good idea BUT …’, I’m sure you are familiar with the impact of the word ‘but’.
Instead, try using ‘and’, it allows you to say the same thing in a softer way. ‘She looked lovely and the dress was old’ is a statement about the dress without detracting from the fact she looked lovely.
‘It’s a good idea and …’ suggests we can build on the good idea as opposed to the meaning “I said it was a good idea but I think it really it really sucks!’ Aren’t people who respond with ‘yes, BUT ….’ some of the most irritating on earth! (if you say so!)
We’ve just skimmed the surface of language and the way we program ourselves.
Play a detective game with yourself, at work or your family, discover the words you are using and the way you use them, they may seem small issues but (I know I used it, I meant to), their impact is great.
Remember, that’s all there was in the beginning! And there is tremendous power in the Word and our words! Use them wisely.
By Amanda Gore
