The power of words

Most of us just use the words they are used to. Your mum told you not to use certain words, or maybe in certain scenes particular words are more common than in other groups of people. But have a thought about how much impact your choice of words actually have on your actions, your way of living, your emotions and your projects!

Use the right words to keep you in power of your life

In the book ‘the Ikigai Journey’, Morales and Garcia explain the power of words. They show why it is so important to use vocabulary that empowers you and places decision making within your control. An example they use: don’t say ‘I wish…’, but use the words ‘I am going to…’.

Personally I like to take it a step further and use ‘I am…’. I think ‘going to’ is still postponing whatever it is you wish for. Better do it straight away or at least feel the power in saying to yourself that you are doing whatever it is you wish for.

To give an example: if you say ‘I wish I would write a book’, you give all your power away. It is out of your control. You cannot help it, it is just a faraway wish to maybe ever write a book. If you say ‘I am going to write a book’. You take the power back. Can you feel the difference? But it still means you can do it tomorrow or next week or in a year. Therefore the most power and action you get from: ‘I am writing a book’. Imagine saying this! You cannot wait to write the first pages!

Another book I recently read also mentions how important language is. ‘The Book of Abundance‘ (Bas Buis and Sunny Nederlof) invites you to no longer use ‘I want..’, ‘I go…’, because you are indirectly stating something is not there yet. That is exactly the opposite of what you want when living the law of abundance. You should read the book or read my more extensive review about the book (I am still writing it ;-)), but in short the law of abundance means everything you can think of is already there as long as you truly believe it is there. When you start talking to yourself in the language of everything already being there, you start seeing evidence of it. Seeing evidence gets you excited and more motivated and things snowball into abundance.

Impact of your (silent) words on your feelings

Did you ever realise the importance of your used language for your emotions? Whenever you think negative thoughts, you start feeling more miserable. Try it out! Check whatever it is you are telling yourself about a situation you felt angry afterwards and check how different you feel if you would turn that thought to a positive thought. Even easier, imagine you tell yourself the opposite of your current thought.

For instance you get a nasty feeling because ‘the neighbour looked unfriendly at you’. You are telling yourself ‘the neighbour looked unfriendly at me’. But what if this is not true? Change the thought into ‘the neighbour looked friendly at me’. And now feel the difference! For me, I can feel the relief in my stomach. And just for the record…. how sure were you about the neighbour actually looking unfriendly at you? Maybe he just had had a bad night and was almost having a mental breakdown and it had nothing to do with you. Or maybe he looked super friendly but still had no makeup on ;-).

It is all about the words you use and the stories you tell yourself. Because these words and stories produce a certain feeling. So next time. Just think the opposite thought. Try it out, and feel your change in emotion, therefore your change in action and therefore the change in outcome of the situation!

Naming your project

Another way why words are so important is also in Morales and Garcia’s book. They explain naming a project is important. Without a name your new project doesn’t really exists and easily disappears again. While if you name your projects, they start existing in your head more strongly. They invite us to ‘find a spell, a word that resonates strongly with you to empower a project’. As example they use: ‘I am going to make my Vitruvian Body a reality’ instead of the dull sentence: ‘I need to go to the gym’. And this is true, what a different feeling you get with the different words. I will use ‘finding Curl Curl Happiness’ for my big project to find my Ikigai and my mission in life. I lived in Curl Curl, it is a suburb of Sydney. I was so happy living there, whatever it is I will find with my project, whenever it resonates Curl Curl Happiness, it will be the best I can find!