20 Everyday Words that could be Affecting you Negatively
You are going to find this interesting. I always think twice about every word, every title and so on I write on this website. But today, I had to make doubly sure the heading itself was communicating the right words and not affecting you negatively!
Anyway that’s just an aside…
Agree with me or not, words have creative or destructive power. I may sound like a broken record but it is so. I am married to my lovely husband and I can say I watched Chuck. Whether feeling ill or being well, I never heard that man utter one negative word. (See how I used the word ‘feeling’ in front of ‘ill? You don’t have to say you are ill, you can feel ill!)
Even if Chuck sounded ‘confused’ per se, you could not catch him out…Man! He had so much positivity, so much faith filled words in him, it was impossible for anything else to come out of him.
One sure way Chuck got himself out of the mental pit, was through the power of deliberating choosing his words. Chuck wrote a series on Meditations and Confessions. Check it out on Amazon. Confessions by the way here, is not where you are going to a priest to name your sins but to declare, pronounce positive words. This is the positive side of the word ‘confession’!
So what I am trying to say is that we are indeed made by words. Someone once said if you don’t like what you have, change what you are saying. How true! We are where we are today by the words we spoke yesterday ( well, more like what you kept saying in the past).
Make sure you read this powerful post especially if I am still convincing you at this point. It will surprise you on what you have been saying and how the words may have been affecting you unknowingly!
So let’s take a quick look at this list. (I have spoken enough now):
#1 I am sick and tired of…
#2 I am not too bad
#3 I am not bad
#4 Where the devil are you?
#5 You will be the death of me/You will kill me
#6 You little devil
#7 Cor blimey (Do you know this actually means God, blind me!!!!!!)
#8 I am afraid I can’t help you
#9 I am dying to see you
#10 I have a headache
#11 My bad
#12 He is funny looking
#13 Jesus
#14 I forgot to
#15 I can’t
#16 I don’t have time
#17 It is scary
#18 I am just being dumb
#19 Don’t be silly
#20 Can I ask a stupid question?
You may think that the words above are just figure of speeches, but why do figures of speech have to be in a negative way that depreciate, devalue or de-energize us?
If you keep saying you are ‘sick and tired’, you will end up sick and tired! Even if it is just headaches and colds, they are annoying because you keep saying it!! You keep yawning and feeling lethargic because you are ever ready to keep saying you are tired of work, tired of the weather, tired of the government, and so on!
Also, you can’t use the Name of Jesus in vain, or worse, as a swear word. Keep doing so, the Name loses its power with you, when you really want to use that Name to pray! Besides to use the Name or any name as a swear word is disrespectful whether you believe in it or not. You would not want someone to keep saying Samantha or Tom ,for example, every time they are frustrated!
Let’s also stop the throw away words too. We will have to look at this some time. But let’s stop statements like I hate my hair , I can be so stupid at time, I am hopeless…
Here is an interesting post on how to turn negative every day words to something positive -> http://www.goodnet.org/articles/how-to-turn-11-everyday-phrases-from-negative-positive
Our words carry weight. Don’t just drop words anyhow with yourself, and also with others. You have nothing to lose (but everything to gain) if you just eliminate them from your vocabulary. And teach your kids too. Break the power of negative words today.
And next time we will look at how we can convert some of these negative phrases to something more uplifting.