From recalling my years of reading books on personal development as stated in my post on The Joy Diet and my take on Scott Ginsberg’s writing advice, I re-learn about The Power of Words.
How? Let me explain this to you.
One thing that I took to my heart from reading books on personal development was about the negative connotation associated with the words “should” and “shouldn’t”. The negativity was so powerful that I had developed an automatic tune off to these two words.
The benefit of not buying into the “should” and “shouldn’t” is that I feel freer and less constricted in pursuing the things I like. But on the same token, I had suspected that I might have taken it too seriously, hence I might have missed out on some really good advice and even good fun!
A light bulb shone through when I read this from one of Scott Ginsberg’s “15 things …”:
Every time you say no to something that’s wrong for you, you make room FOR and give yourself permission to say yes to something that’s right for you.
The words that jumped out to me were “no” and “yes”.
I took the cue and played with the words a bit. Some amazing thing happened.
Example:
“I should write and I shouldn’t watch the re-run of NCIS for the 3rd time.”
When the above popped up in my mind, I concentrated so much on debating why I should write and not watch TV or vice versa, I ended up doing nothing.
“Say yes to writing and say no to NCIS.”
The signal is so clear that I don’t have to waste time to make up my mind.
Of course I could also say to myself: “yes to NCIS and no to writing.”
But this is still fine as I got to enjoy a good TV programme. The yes and no become a time saver and help to get things done.
So there you go, “The Power of Words”.
7 comments:
Very true! Should and should not are very powerful phrases and I try not to use them unless it's absolutely necessary.
I'd never thought about the effect they might have in self-talk though. I might try your "Say yes", "Say no" trick :)
This is very inciteful (sp?). For example, right now I SHOULD be working but I'm not, I'm reading your blog. I'm saying NO to boring tedium and YES to stretching my mind, which ultimately can only be good for work (what a convincer!). Anyway, now I am rambling and MUST do some work. I'm 'working from home' today while my new boiler is fitted. Say Yes to being a good girl and writing an exciting piece about video conferencing!!
Yes!
Yes, I liked this, and no, you didn't have to pay me to write that!
Yes indeed. No problem recognizing you as a writer here either. And as a writer, I bet you feel the power of words very acutely.
Yes?
There's an old saying don't should all over yourself. Yes, definitely too much pressure when you feel you should do things. Very important insight.
Hi All,
Glad that the Yes & No are giving us inspiration and motivation for some further creative works. Now that's what I called the REAL power of words. Well done, everyone! :)
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