SPELLs: Be Mindful of Your LANGUAGE
Be Mindful of Your LANGUAGE
They words you use are powerful.
The words you use to describe yourself, events and experiences matter.
Words are quite literally spells, that’s why writing words is called spelling.
Florence Scovel Shinn, was an American artist and book illustrator who became a New Thought spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer in the 1920’s.
I still love her take on the importance of language, with one of her books being called “Your Word is Your Wand”.
She says:
“Your word is your wand. The words you speak create your own destiny”.
and
“The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later with astounding accuracy”.
Words carry enormous power.
They can lift you up, inspire you, or leave you feeling deflated or humiliated.
They help you to connect with others, and can also lead to miscommunication and frustrations.
Words have energy and power with the ability to help, support, encourage, hinder, hurt, harm, and humble.
Words also have different energy and power to each of us.
Words have their own stories.
You may find a particular word offensive, but it may not bother another person.
In this part of the course you’re going to take a deeper look at how you use language.
The Language You Use
To start to look at the language you use, look back over the previous exercises at the language you’ve used, and been influenced by, as you’ve explored your stories around the area of your life you choses your Witches Wheel.
Put the words and phrases into the following categories:
- Supportive and Affirming
- Neutral
- Unhelpful and Disempowering
What do you notice about your lists?
Do the words you use and are surrounded by add to your experience in a positive way, or do they deplete this area of your life?
Choosing Your Language
If you constantly affirmed that your life was full of joy, opportunity and supportive people, you would have a very different experience of life than if you affirmed that life was unfair, challenging and full of selfish people.
Although both of these statements have truth in them, you will see more of what you expect.
For example, if I told you that there were loads more red cars on the road than usual, when you went outside you would start to notice the red cards. Not necessarily because there were more cars, but just because you they had been brought to your attention.
You will find and experience a lot of what you expect.
You bring to life your expectations with your words.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right,”
This famous Henry Ford quote, emphasises how much your attitude, and the words you choose, determines the likelihood of your success or failure.
Try the following practices to become more aware of your language and how you can choose to use words that consciously support you:
- Choose your Essence: Take time to consciously choose your words before you speak. Choose words that align you more with your ROOT Essence words and feelings.
- Commit to not complaining: Give yourself a period of time, starting with 24hrs, to not complain or gossip about anything or anyone, including yourself.
- Balance the negative: If you do find yourself complaining or even being tempted to complain or gossip, counter it by saying something positive about yourself or the situation.
- Focus on the positive: Throughout the day focus on saying positive things to yourself and others about experiences, situations etc
- Create new Habits: Have the first words of your day, and the last words of your day, be something positive and uplifting that you say to yourself.
- Appreciate yourself and others: Say ‘Thank you’ and show your appreciation to others as often as you can.
As you practice focusing on choosing positive, affirming and uplifting words, it will help you to identify how often you use words that do the opposite.
You will also notice how you feel when you focus on changing your language, and how it impacts your experience of life, and those around you.