Mind Your Language!
Have you ever noticed how powerful words can be? Positive or Negative, words and language make an impact.
Just this morning I was at a networking event where Eric Bailey, renowned motivational speaker, held the floor. The audience was entranced, and he held us in the palm of his hands as we listened, participated, made notes, recorded and were inspired by his story and his message.
Here’s the thing… how often do we motivate and inspire ourself with the words we use? How often do we beat ourself up over our excuses – oops sorry, reasons, and shortcomings, instead of encouraging, motivating and acting in our own best interest? Am I creating stress and fatigue with every thought I have or words I speak?
For many people, words create images, and trigger feelings. Sometimes there are feelings that trigger thoughts, and that gives rise to pictures. It doesn’t matter what order this occurs, what matters is that words have power, and if we are to help ourself to feel better, reduce stress, increase peace, and feel more relaxed, then it is time to be aware of our thoughts, and our spoken and written words.
Care to play?
Don’t think of a blue elephant; don’t think of a blue elephant wearing a pink tutu; don’t think of a blue elephant wearing a pink tutu and with orange toenail polish; now don’t think of that blue elephant doing cartwheels, …. while juggling firesticks!
How many blue elephants did your mind conjure up? It’s okay, no actual elephants have been harmed!
The subconscious mind ignores words such as “don’t, try, won’t, not,” because these words are not verbs, adverbs or adjectives or nouns. The subconscious is programmed to respond to whatever goes through the mind, and responds emotionally as per the words you think or say and does not discriminate from past (been and gone events), present or future events. This is the reason why I cry at sad movies, or get scared by thrillers, or need to read with the light on. My subconscious is responding as if these things were real even though it might not be happening right this minute.
So, when someone says “i don’t want to be stressed any more” the subconscious mind hears, feels and acts on “be stressed more”…
Or, “Don’t run through the house” and the subconscious hears, sees and feels “run through the house”.
The subconscious mind notices words that are:
1. Active verbs – verbs are the doing words, such as (for example): read, write, jump, move, go, run, walk, climb, create, bake.
2. Adverbs and adjectives – are the descriptive words, examples are: bright, happy, pretty, sad, blue, green, fat, thin, sharp, pointy, soft, heavy, fast, dazzling, inconsiderate and so on
3. Nouns – are labels for objects, for example: wheelbarrow, table, chair, book, individual, dish, milkshake, sky
Many times I have told my clients that no-one comes to see me because they have a thought going round in their head of “I am awesome, I am super-successful and abundant”! Instead of using don’t, not, no, won’t use positive statements that are powerfully active, such as “I am happy! I am energetic! I am doing my best!”
Your thoughts, words, feelings and beliefs have immense power to change your life, when you harness them properly. What is your language doing for you? Take care to mind your language and it will mind you.
