Choose Your Words
Simple Things Can Have A Big Impact
The words you speak influence you in subtle ways all the time.
Do you use empowering or disempowering language?
Is your speech cluttered with filler sounds and words?
Do you over-apologize for things that you had no part in and couldn't have changed?
Do you talk down about yourself, or make jokes at your own expense?
The way you talk affects your life in a million tiny ways that add up to a significant impact.
One day I walked out of the house to work outside and just as I was getting settled, I realized I had forgotten something inside.
I got up and walked inside to get it, but then forgot what it was again.
I stood there in the house saying out loud, "What did I forget? What did I forget? I forgot something, what was it? Oh, that's right, I can't believe I forgot that."
I grabbed it up and headed back out.
I stalled on the stairs out of the house as it dawned on me that not only had I forgotten something, but I had reinforced forgetting a half dozen times in the last few minutes.
I changed my words and said out loud over and over again as I walked back to my place, "I'm glad I remembered this. I remembered it and then I went and got it. I'm so glad I remembered."
In another life, I would have walked back saying "Of course you forgot it, you always forget things, you're so absent-minded sometimes. Why don't you pay more attention? Stop forgetting things."
I would have berated myself, reinforced my own forgetfulness (your subconscious mind hears everything, it's just waiting to obey your commands). I would have made myself feel stupid and small; and when I finally got to the point of getting to work, what state would my mind have been in?
What I want is to remember, not to forget.
Both ways of saying it were true, but one was disempowering and reinforced what I don't want, while the other was the opposite.
So often we use disempowering language when we could say the same thing in a different way.
Choose your words.
No one else can do that for you and no one can force you to use different words.
Simple things can have a big impact.
Over the last few months I've been working on a community for Living the Game of Life and it has fluttered around a bit, but finally landed on Skool. It's very new and very fresh and barely started, but I'd love it if you wanted to be there for the beginning.
Curious where you are on your journey?
Take my free quiz: What’s Your Midlife Reawakening Archetype? You’ll discover your unique strengths, challenges, and the next best step to design a chapter of life that feels authentic and fulfilling.