Talk To Yourself

How you talk to yourself matters.  The words you use matter.

The other day we were at a drive through coffee shop and we ordered, “Could I have a tea with honey, no milk”, and the woman working there said, “Got it! But for future reference, if you don’t want milk don’t say milk at all, because all we here is “milk” and you’ll end up with milk in your tea”.

I realized she was right of course.  But it also made me think about the language we use.  You can say, “I don’t feel sad” or you can say, “I feel happy”.  They have similar meanings, but one has a positive connotations and the other a negative connotation.  Why does this matter?  Because the specific words you use affect the way you feel and affect your actions.  If you want to make a change in your life you have to start by changing the way to you talk; to yourself, to your family, to the world.

You can do this in all sorts of ways and it’s simple to start and easy to get the hang of.  Before you make a statement think about the words; are they positive or negative? It’s really that simple.

At first you might feel silly, or as though it doesn’t really matter what words you use.  I promise you, it does matter.  Slowly overtime you will change your thinking to focus on the positive before you think of the negative.

I once heard someone say that a small change in the direction at the beginning of a journey, even by five degrees, will completely change the entire outcome of where you end up.  Changing the words you use is exactly like that.  It’s such a small change but then impacts are huge; it’s a butterfly effect.

What’s something you can change the language on from negative to positive and make a small change in your life starting today?