Words As Tools

By Mohammed | June 28, 2007

I love words. I think deep in my soul I must be a wordsmith. I love to communicate. Don’t think I’ve ever met a stranger. Never had a problem talking to people. I’m a great listener. Like I said I love to communicate.

With all of this talking, listening and communicating I have learned something of great value.

Semantics make a difference.

When I was a kid I used to hear

“Sticks and Stones may break my bones
But words will never hurt me”
Yeah, right. That is a crock.

Words are powerful, powerful tools. They can hurt and hinder people deep down in their psyches. Bones heal much faster than self-images. Self-images can take years and years to heal and sometimes they never do.

But back to the point.

Words are powerful. Think about some of the words that we use. There are words that you hear that just instantly make you feel good, words like Joy, Love, Gratitude, Happiness and Serendipity.

And there are words that automatically make you feel bad, words like struggle, hate, crisis, disgusted.

Words evoke powerful emotions.

There are words that pull your trigger every time. What if you changed the words that evoked the extreme emotions to words that evoked softer feelings? How could that change your state? How could that keep you in a happy, joyful place of empowerment?

Think about it.

Instead of being “disgusted” you were “peeved” ( now that has got to make you laugh a little!).

Instead of “hating” something, you were “slightly irritated”.

Instead of having a “struggle” you had a “challenge”.

Here’s one that my husband reminds me of when I think I want to diet!

Instead of saying that chocolate cake is “Scrumptious” you could say “it tastes okay” ( it just doesn’t have the same appeal now does it?)

See the emotions are softened. I know that the force of the words is not the same but that is really the point. The point is to soften the emotions so that you can get into and stay in a happy state (or in the case of the dieting, a more empowered state).

When you are in a state of happiness and empowerment you can direct your life the way you want it to go.

Use your words wisely. They are tools that can serve you for the good!

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This post is included in the Carnival of Observations on Life located at Anja Merret.com July 8, 2007.