The Power of Words

The power of words

Words are powerful. It seems that we all know that and yet it seems that few of us have a word behavior that could really stand up to a well meaning scrutiny.
Our behavior with words becomes a standard operating procedure until something comes along or happens that causes us to reexamine how we are doing.
It is helpful to have some guidelines for the words we use.

1) What is the underlying intention beneath the words. It is important for us to be highly conscious of not just what we say but what we intended by what we said.
Sarcasm is a classic example of how intention and words are not always in alignment.
All to often someone says something like, "Excuse me," when something that they perceive as wrong happens and if these words are spoken with sarcasm what they are really saying is quite different then the literal meaning.

2) Beauty - Do all your words create beauty when they are spoken. I myself have a life long habit of complaining that I have been working on correcting over a long period of time. It doesn't matter how good the reason for complaining seems to be because complaining itself does not create beauty.

3) Courage - Do your words evoke courage. Courage is of the heart. It is contagious and it connects us to our inner resourcefulness. The opposite of courage is fear. Words that are filled with fear shut down our resourcefulness and creativity.

4) Compassion - Imagine always speaking about others and yourself from a compassionate place. The opposite of compassion is shame, blame, and guilt. Imagine that you extended a compassionate view to yourself and all those around you. What would have to shift in your words to your self and others to reflect compassion.

I could go on and I am curious about how you are doing in the choice of words that you are using on a daily basis.

Often we become blind to our word habit. It would be interesting to make a game with a friend to tap your arm every time you use words that are not consistent with the above guidelines. Try it for just one day and see where the opportunity is for you to grow your word habit in a good way.

Patrick Ryan
www.AwakenedWisdom.com