We have all had bad moments where we’ve been less than kind to ourselves. We might have struggled to accomplish something and called ourselves either put loud or internally things like failure, lazy, stupid or even worthless, we might even feel like we deserved it, or we minimize and tell ourselves it isn’t so bad since we only did it once or twice.
But the fact of the matter is that word choice is a powerful thing, and every time we direct harsh negativity toward ourselves we are potentially feeding ourselves poison.
While it may take time for this negativity to accumulate in our system, eventually it takes root and solidifies into negative thoughts that reoccur regularly or can turn into negative core beliefs. These beliefs are so deeply engrained in us that they color how we see and move in the world.
It’s important to note that our mind accept negativity more easily than positivity, so the amount of work we create for ourselves down the road to undo what we did in a matter of seconds becomes insurmountable.
Some people might argue that it’s important to acknowledge when we make mistakes or fail and that no one is perfect, I agree but there are better ways to do this than punishing ourselves.
When it comes to word choice there is an abundance of synonyms, each with varying degrees of negative, neutral, and positive words. If we feel a need to hold ourselves accountable we can pick a word that holds a neutral or positive meaning. For example, instead of “I failed, try I struggled.” It’s a subtle difference but it can help to reduce the amount of negativity we absorb.
For years I told myself I was everything my mother told me I was. It wasn’t until I changed the words, that I stopped attracting negative things into my life.
We can find small ways to practice dropping negativity and putting down the poison. Choosing positivity and optimism is a harder path and takes more effort initially, but the payoff down the road is more than worth it.
From Pity to Praise 