Words we speak, words we think, words we hear and read, they all matter.
I believe that words are like mini apps that are open in the operating system of our being. Some of these apps are helpful, they give us what we need at the time we need it. Others, at best, simply take up space – decreasing the performance of useful apps – or at worst, weaken us just like a bug that attack our immune system.
Can you see the truth of that in your experience?
One of my ultimate delights is to become conscious of what was previously unconscious. Each time it happens, I feel closer to myself, getting to know what does and doesn’t work for me. Essentially, it is this awareness that gives me the power of choice. One of those delightful moments happened yesterday, when I popped in to the local bookshop, Waterstone.
I noticed that they changed the ‘self help’ section to ‘smart thinking’. ‘What a smart move!’, I thought!
I’m not sure who came up with the idea, I’m guessing someone in marketing, someone who’d studied NLP and wanted to appeal to more readers. Whoever it was, knew the power of words. I had not really been able to see it so clearly until then that: I had always been subtly uncomfortable standing in the ‘self help’ section. Browsing through pages of books there, I felt defined as someone in need of help. As true as it might have been at times, when I picked up a book to find a solution to a problem, this wasn’t always the case. The shelf’s name was at times misleading and somehow, dis-empowering. Flicking through pages was my way of hanging out with the authors – friends I never got to meet face to face. Hanging out till I could find a gem, something that could open up my mind to a new way of seeing and understandings myself. Smart thinking, though also a label defining authors/readers, felt more uplifting and initiated completely different mental/emotional processes.
The same person, going in to the store for the same purpose, standing in her favourite section, has 2 completely different experiences based on just: Two words! That’s how powerful they are.
In case these 2 words had no effects on you, how about these?
Totally different right? With this awareness which would you use? Are there any words in your mind, right now, that are working against you?
Dorna Djenab
May 2019