“If you fight for your limitations, you get to keep them.” – Jim Kwik
Words are powerful!
It’s not that our words can be powerful, it’s that our words ARE powerful!… always!
Our words are powerful – however we use them!
Our words can either lift us up and empower us or they can pull us down and disempower us. We can use our words mindfully and meaningfully, or we can use them mindlessly and without care. Words can open us or limits us.
Our words can also have an impact on other people in the same way – lifting them up or pulling them down. We can use our words to pass warmth, love and bring deeper connection to each other, or we can use them to manipulate, create fear, hate and disconnection.
If you think your words aren’t powerful or important, I invite you to reconsider.
How we speak and the words we use reflect our attitudes, beliefs, how we feel and our level of self awareness. Our words are forces that can either reinforce our current emotions and state of mind, or they can be used to help us transform our life.
Words That Limit Us
Do you ever say things like:
I’m not good at sports.
I’m not very creative.
I can’t meditate.
I can’t concentrate.
I’m not good with people.
I can’t handle social events.
I can’t handle isolation.
I’m a very anxious and tense person.
I’m a slow reader.
I’m a slow learner.
When we say things like this, we’re essentially making a statement about our self that leaves no room for another possibility. Of course, we might feel like these things are true, but in using our words like a defining statement, we’re using the power of our words to reinforce limitations.
Where do you justify your limitations?
What would be possible if you stopped doing it?
I used to say “I’m a slow reader.” It was a label I gave myself, and I felt completely justified in saying it because I was a slow reader… until I wasn’t.
I started to become acutely aware of how limited and disempowered I felt every time I’d say or think the words “I’m a slow reader”. Every time I said it, I could feel I was reinforcing this limitation by essentially telling myself I couldn’t be anything more.
I realized I had to stop saying it.
So, I did.
It felt like I stopped making excuses for myself. Sometimes if I’d feel the thought emerging, I’d just let it go. I could feel the contraction starting in my mind and in my body and chose not to contract.
Other times I’d be very careful to clarify it by saying something like “I’ve been a slow reader”. In this way I acknowledged that yes, until this point, I’ve been a slow reader, however it left space for a different possibility for the future. There was a feeling of having a choice instead of being defined by a belief.
Optimism and Curiosity
What I found incredibly opening for my heart was the more I stopped using my words to limit me, there was an increasing optimism arising inside me. Without my words reinforcing a limit around my reading ability, and by clarifying my words when I did use them, this optimism for possibilities felt so freeing.
The optimism also inspired my curiosity to know what this possibility might be like. So, I took the time to take a reading course that helped me increase my reading speed.
Reading may not be something you have limiting thoughts about, but the same principle applies to all limiting behaviours and the words we use to reinforce them.
Limitations come in many forms but the words we use, whether in talking to our self or others, are powerful opportunities. The question is, do we use our words to create and reinforce limitations, or do we use them to open the door to growth?
Your words are powerful – Choose how you use them!
The first step in using the power of your words to grow, is to stop using them to limit yourself!
Start paying attention to the limiting statements you make about yourself. Maybe some of the statements listed above will resonate with you?
Identify what aspects of you that you make these statements about.
Once you identify how you use your words, pay attention to how it feels inside you when you do. Become sensitive to the tension, grasping or powerlessness that comes with the words. Even when you’re using your words to put yourself down, you can recognize the power of your words. You did it with your words… Which means you also have the power to use your words differently!
Then you have a choice. Either stop using the power of your words to limit yourself (this will already feel great), or start using your words differently!
Notice how you feel when you make an open statement of possibility versus when you make a self-limiting statement. This is important because you’re connecting what you say to the effect it has on you.
Open and limiting statements feel very different. One makes you feel more expansive and alive, while the other makes you feel contracted and dull.
Remember, you don’t have to judge either as good or bad, but in recognizing the difference inside yourself means you can identify your limits and choose to grow beyond them. Like flexing a muscle, you’re strengthening the power of your words to awaken your energy and heart.
Words are powerful! The words we speak can either open the door for greater possibilities or reinforce our limits.
Be playful with it.
Play is good for the heart!
You CAN be more than you realize!
You WILL be more when you choose to speak like you can!
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