The Language We Use Matters

In one of Barack Obama's early interviews that was originally aired on Al Arabiya TV, I heard him say these words in reference to many of the problems in the Middle East: the language we use matters. Although he was referring to the way the problems in that region are expressed by those of us in other areas of the world, and in particular the press and political leaders past and present, it immediately made me think of it in other terms.

What language do we use to express ourselves inside our heads - our self-talk - about ourselves and what we do and what we plan? Specifically, which words are we using during this self-talk?

Further, what language do we use to express ourselves verbally, when in conversation with others? What words are we hearing ourselves say over and over again?

Are they words that serve to empower us, or do we use words that weaken us, and that lower our energetic frequency? Think about it: when your young child makes a mistake, do you encourage, bolster and support him or her, so that they will try again, with the belief that next time they will do better, or succeed? Or do you cut them down, criticize and belittle them?

Now: in a similar situation, how do you speak to yourself?

What about when you run into a snag during your day? Not necessarily a mountain, just a little snag, but one that is enough to lower your energy ... if you allow it by the messages you send yourself.

Do you say things like:

• Not again!
• I really could have done without this!
• Why does stuff like this always happen to me?
• I just knew it couldn't continue as smoothly as it had been going...
• Wouldn't you know it ... just when things were going so well.
• Typical ... my usual bad luck.

Or do you watch your language and say things like:

• let's see ... how do we solve this in the best way?
• what's the quickest way to get around this?
• wow ... now that I think about it, this is actually good, because it let me see a new perspective. Without it, I would never have come to this conclusion ... which is actually much better in the long term
• so this is what Ford meant when he said that failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently
• if Lincoln / Edison / Einstein / Ford could pick themselves up, so can I!
• so this is what Kennedy meant when he said "Only those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly"

The point is not so much that you use words of this nature verbatim, but that you remember their general gist when you need to in order that you maintain your inner energy - your inner sense of purpose - in a good place, rather than going down because of the language you use.

I often refer to energy from the point of view of how you feel inside, of the frequency at which your inner state of being is vibrating, and there are many articles about this subject here on the blog (click on the label below). In order to maintain this energy at an optimum level at all times, it is expedient to take good care of that energy. If you want to maintain a toned body, with strong muscles, it is clear that you must do something about that body and those muscles. It's the same thing with this energy I'm referring to. Many, many things - many easy things - can be done, as long as they are done frequently (as you would exercise frequently in order to maintain a toned body), in order to maintain such a state of good energy. Again, I recommend that you have a look at some of the posts about inner energy on this blog, and in particular, this one:

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Photo: Namibia