One of the biggest ahaaa moments for me during my journey of personal development has been learning about the power of the words that we use.
We experience life in abundance whether that abundance be positive or negative. When I look out in nature I see so much abundance everywhere. So where did the poverty mindset that so many people have today come from? I believe one of the reasons so many people think so negatively is because of the words they use and the words they hear.
Words will determine what you think. Do you have order in your mind? I know my own mind has had a lot of chaos over the years. I was a pretty negative thinker, I had a lot of "Stinkin' Thinkin'" happening in my life. What made me realize that I could control my thinking happened because of a headache.
One day a friend told me to quit saying "I have a headache". I looked at her like she was crazy, why would I not say it when it was the truth, I did have a headache. Now for me that was a very bad thing because I have suffered from migraine headaches since I was six years old. She kept telling me to just say "I am healthy" regardless of how I felt.
At that point I tried to make sense of what she was saying and honestly I just didn't get it. However, she was a very good friend and I trusted her so, whenever I started to get a headache, I would repeat to myself "I am healthy". Sometimes it would work and the headache would start, but not develop into a full blown migraine. That was huge for me and made me stop and think about the words that I was using, and the words I was hearing from others.
We cannot always control our thoughts, but we can control our words, and repetition impresses the subconscious, and we are then master of the situation." Jane Fonda
We frame our thinking by the words we hear. What we listen to on a regular basis impacts us more than we realize. What we allow to enter our brains over and over again gets imbedded into our thought patterns and eventually becomes habit. Some of our ways of thinking are good for us, others are not.
We have to choose daily to make quality word decisions or continue with stinking thinking. Ask yourself what am I surrounding myself with every day? What is repeating over and over and over and over? Is it positive or negative? Is it empowering on disempowering? It is not only the words we speak but the words of others, the words of the media through t.v. and radio, even through music.
The habits we have are a result of our thinking. Sometimes we are negative without even realizing it. Do we say "remember to pick up dog food" or do we say "don't forget to pick up dog food" . Our brains don't recognize the negative and they hear "forget to pick up dog food". Hmm, we are programming our minds to do the exact opposite of what we want.
Making those quality decisions and choosing to say the positive words of the behavior we want rather than what we don't want can change our entire life. When our words line up with the desires we have for our life we begin to speak our future into existence.
How we think each day can be set up by the words we hear and use when we first get up in the morning. What are you hearing? Are you turning on the negative news to start your day? You may want to re-think that habit and start your day on a more positive note. One of the ways you can change your words is through the use of affirmations. I start my day, every day, with positive affirmations. It would be my pleasure to share my list of affirmations with you. Simply send me an email to Carla@RetireWithCarla.com, put affirmations in the subject line and I will forward to you the list I say each morning.
Your life is what your thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius
The good thing is that we all know we can change our habits. We don't always choose to do so but we still know that we can. Words are a habit, and it is just a process to change them.
Delete the habit of negative words. Stay focused the daily habit of powerful and positive words. Remember these are habits therefore in most cases some internal digging is necessary to find out just what you are saying that is not in your own best interest.
My suggestion is to get a recorder, record yourself and then play it back. You may be very surprised at what you hear. You may even have a computer that has a recorder built into it. It is important to relax and get the "real you" on the recorder. Therefore I suggest that either the beginning or end of your day, sit down with the recorder and tell the story of your day. Once you get into your story it will be much easier to speak naturally and chose the words you would normally say. Plus once you have recorded yourself a few times it will also become more natural and you will hear that "real you".
| Let me know, via email, what kind of words you have been thinking and saying and which words you have changed. I would love to hear your success stories. Changing the habit of my words has had a powerful impact on my life. It has even given me the courage to write this article and share what I have learnt with you! I hope that you will be able to impact your life in a powerful way also. http://www.RetireWithCarla.com Carla *The Champion* McNeil |
