The power of words
The Power of Words
It is true to say that the thoughts that we think and the words that we say shape our lives. Our words are powerful and can impact in unimagined ways.
If you are self-destructive and participate in negative self-talk, you will say things to yourself that you wouldn’t dream of saying to anyone else.
Do you ever think about how your words are received by yourself or others? Sometimes words kill and once spoken the words can never be reversed.
Words can kill. Evil gossip kills three: the one who says it, the one who listens, and the subject of the gossip —Talmud
A few years ago I watched a video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAvx6vjeHA
The video was entitled The Power of Words Experiment and was inspired by Grant Thompson and his wife who read the book The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto, which explores our relationship with water and the pseudoscientific idea that the molecular structure of water is changed by the presence of human consciousness nearby. The evidence and theories contained in the book are backed up by "exhaustive and wildly unscientific research”.
They decided to create this video to prove the theory. In the video an experiment is carried out using three sealed glass jars containing cooked rice. One jar is labelled with the word ‘Love’, another jar is labelled ‘Hate’ and an ‘Ignore’ label is placed on the third jar. When Grant Thompson and his wife first decided to do the experiment, they had intended on speaking or ignoring the jars on a regular basis, but they simply forgot and just left all three jars on a shelf for six months.
After six months, Grant Thompson and his wife looked inside all the jars and they were amazed at the results. The rice in the ‘Love’ jar still looked white and fresh but in the ‘Hate’ jar and the ‘ignore’ jar, the rice was brown and decayed. Interesting to note that just labelling the jar had created an impact on its contents.
So it seems that intentioned thought is as powerful as action.
The results of this experiment show us the power of our words. When we speak kindly to each other, we are helping each other and when we speak harshly, we are damaging each other.
All of this got me thinking about the fact that Monks take vows of silence. So why do they do it? Monks take vows of silence to restrict themselves and avoid saying something negative. They stop themselves revealing anything that might impulsively come to mind that could be spoken and then upset another person.
Vows of silence help to develop will power, encouragement to observation of truth, control anger, and channel emotions.
Be impeccable with your word is the first of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. This book is inspirational giving guidance from the Toltec traditions on how to live your life in alignment with your unique purpose. Ruiz interprets the first agreement as follows:
Speak with integrity, honesty, and truthfulness
Say only what you mean
Speak of what you desire
Avoid speaking negatively about yourself or others
Use your words in the positive direction of truth and love
Simply put, our words are magic. If words are magic, what are we creating for ourselves and others?
Ruiz states you can use your words to create good in the world, or to create chaos and spread negativity. When we speak with integrity, when we are truthful with our speech, we feel good. Praising and speaking positively about our fellow man benefits ourselves, the person being praised and all of society.
We formulate our words through thought, so it all begins with the way that we think. Since we can choose our thoughts and words, learning how to think and speak in a way that feels good, helps you create what you desire and can add immense value to your life.
Exerting self-control over our speech is admirable. Even greater is the ability to truly respect and love every person, automatically eradicating the negative and losing the desire to share bad information about them. We should choose our words wisely as our words are holy and affect our world. The words we say to ourselves and others really do have an effect.
If our words are responsible for most of the negativity we experience in our life, then surely it is important to be conscious of our intentions when we speak. Our words are divine and holy and our world is created through our words and we can either build or destroy our world. If we control our words then we are likely to see miracles as what we put out there into the universe comes back to us. Restricting ourselves from telling others what to do, is sometimes the best solution. Learning to enjoy silence helps us to build strength and then the words we use have more power.
When we decide to talk only when necessary, we feel more empowered and our words have more meaning.
Why not try a vow of silence to discover how powerful your words are.
Please reach out to me for guidance with your goals and dreams.
