The hidden power of words
Recently I have been chatting with my friends and ex-colleagues I still keep in contact with. Once in a while they would grumble about the weather, moan about the rising cost of living in the country or complain about all the little things that happened in their lives.
The topics vary, but they all ended the conversation with a sigh. A “Sigh” or the locally favored “Hais”.
A reoccurring theme is :
“The cost of living is really going up. At this rate my girlfriend and I would not be able to afford a new home and have to rent one.”
“Sigh.”
Be careful with your words.
A sigh indicates that there is nothing that can be done about the situation. It implies that nothing the person is doing will help in any way to change the situation. It means that the person is giving up. It is a downward spiral that makes things worse very quickly. No attempt is done to remedy the situation, the situation get’s worse, and the sigh comes back.
I said to be careful with your words because while the words speak your mind they also influence you. It works both ways – your brain hears what you say and believes it to be true. That is how we imagine, perceive and think – and unfortunately this works against us when we sigh. We tell ourselves it is hopeless and gave up before we even fight.
I have a simple solution for that.
Turn the “Sigh” into a “Hmm”.
A “Hmm” means that you are considering the situation. It means that you are actively thinking about it and how to get around it or even use it to your advantage. It is a simple concept and yet would get your mind up and running for creative solutions to the problem. At least it puts the problem in the back of our mind instead of chunking it into the “cannot be solved” bin.
Let’s go back to the scenario:
“The cost of living is really going up. At this rate my girlfriend and I would not be able to afford a new home and have to rent one.”
“Hmm.”
Notice that the gloom implied at the end has disappeared. If we can actively do this, we can actively turn our situation around and actually attempt to resolve it. And who wouldn’t want a better life?
