This post is part of Reverb11. Through January 15th 22nd, I will be sharing my responses to the remainder of the prompts. My Reverb11 responses are a bit different than usual—more vulnerable, less polished, more frequent, and probably more interesting!
28. Vocabulary.
If you could eliminate one word from your brain forever—what would it be? (Author: Meadow DeVor)
One Word: Ruin
I tend to think in extremes—an all or nothing mindset (i.e., perfectionistic thinking). The most powerful way I reinforce this mindset: my language.
Ruin = Defeat. Crush. Break. Minimize.
These words lead to thoughts associated with “beyond repair” and “hopelessness.” To ruin is to weaken, to be left broken apart.
“This will ruin me.” could replace with “This will change me.”
Change is something I can work with. It’s a word that has options—hope.
The words we use have consequences. The words we subconsciously use have even greater consequences. Rather than focus on a word that quickly comes to mind, I dug a bit deeper and recognized words that I use often without even realizing. These are the words I want to bring awareness to. To eliminate them from my brain forever would be a great superpower; however, in reality, we must practice replacing these unwanted words with wanted words.
Notice –> Replace –> Rinse + Repeat
Over time, and with lots of repetition, you’ll notice yourself using the wanted words far more frequently than the unwanted, and this shift in communication lead to shifts in thoughts, feelings, actions, and consequences. Never underestimate the power of one word!
Check out Meadow’s post on this topic. She has some great word replacements in the post that I highly recommend printing to reference :).
image: uupp
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
So, so good. Such an important, timely reminder. Thank you.
So happy you enjoyed this reminder, Sarah. Thank you :).
“This will ruin me.” could replace with “This will change me.”
Yes! I love it!!
Rings so true.
This is such an important post. Ever notice how such simple things as vocab. and even good/poor posture affect your mood? This post kind of reminds me of NLP. Some of the late-night infommercials tote NLP in a misrepresented way, but that’s not the branded version I’m referring to. NLP is basically just a method of raising self-awareness of how we “talk” or “self-coach” ourselves throughout our daily lives and what effect that has on our overall well-being. Eliminating negative words and replacing them with empowering vocabulary is an important part of that process. Again, nice post. :)