You Have The Power To Decide How You Will Use Your Power.

You Have The Power To Decide How You Will Use Your Power.

By, Donna Daacke

Hi Friends

Words have such power to inspire, comfort, support, encourage, and tear down, discourage, belittle, stress, or create anxiety and self-doubt. Whether written or spoken, words evoke such meaning when, in reality, they are simple characters strung together that we have learned to assign meaning to for the purpose of expressing. But, we know there is more, of course, much much more in the power of those simple characters.

When we communicate through our language or transmit information, we transmit thought or feeling, and that’s where the power lies in the use of our words. Take, for example, Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream.” words that powerfully unite or Steve Jobs’s speech that teaches us “Never To Settle.” inspires and motivates us, or Harvey Milk, whose speech” Give Them Hope.” brings hope. There is such felt meaning in specific phrases or quotes, for example, “Whoever is happy will make others happy too.” Anne Frank’s powerful, inspiring words from a young lady that likely was comforted in the writing of her words. Or, Abraham Lincoln when he said, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. “Those words remind us to make our time count.

Words can genuinely act as weapons, try this on for size; how does it make you feel when you read a quote from Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union, “Death is the solution to all problems. No man, no problem.” A dictator who ruled by fear, you can still feel the tyranny in that phrase.

On the other hand, when we use our words “impeccably,” as Don Migel Ruiz suggests in his book “The Four Agreements.” Our words can have such an ability to have an amazing impact. Imagine what kind of world it could be if every human thought for an extra second what kind of productive and positive impact their words could carry before hitting the go button. What words do we choose to use when speaking to ourselves? Are they words that reinforce fear or generate encouragement and bravery? After all, thoughts are just a series of non-stop strung together words.

Expressed words carry power because they evoke such emotion. Words have assigned meaning, and that meaning brings energy. Emotion is “energy in motion.” In whatever way a word filters in through our lens, it does inevitably carry energy. That “word energy” or “emotion” generates a feeling, and those feelings can determine our state of wellbeing. Imagine you’ve unintentionally upset someone you love, and instead of saying “get over it” you say, “I am sorry.” How we speak to those we love can support a loving relationship or be a cancer and slowly destroy something once meaningful. How many times have you heard a good parent of an angry child remind their child to “use their words”? Learning to communicate with construction over destruction, we can bring such healing to our world. We can’t control how someone else uses their words toward us, but we can choose how we use them back as weapons or as examples of compassion; doing so can immediately diffuse their destructive intent. You have the power to decide how you will use your power.

I love words, on clothing, on cards, in books, on places all over my home, words that inspire and remind me of the good and possibility in the world and for a long time, I’ve recognized the value of using them “impeccably,” that’s agreement number 1 in “The Four Agreements.” Author Don Migel Ruiz states so simply, “Be Impeccable With Your Word.” Be impeccable when not only speaking to others but to ourselves. There are times, of course, I want to say something ugly because that would feel better at that very moment, but then I am aware that it only serves to deteriorate a situation further. Sometimes it’s better not to say anything at all if I can’t say something meaningful. It doesn’t mean that I am forfeiting my feelings. On the contrary, I am preserving my feelings because, for me, it feels better to allow the dissipation of that word energy rather than endure the lingering pain of what I might have said in a moment of high emotion. Sometimes just allowing for a pause can provide the necessary diffusion of emotion (energy) before proceeding. The same can be true when speaking to myself. I am aware that my emotional state can be determined by the language going on in my thoughts, and we all know that those thoughts can be relentless. The power of those words can be even more destructive, and sorting out that language can be super restorative and empowering. Using our words impeccably in our inner dialogue is where a lot of the outer conversation begins. Recognizing that we all have “off” times and allowing that energy to filter through, consider replacing some of the words used in that inner dialogue with constructive words or affirmation. Try posting front and center the words that encourage your desired state, remembering that energy follows words. You don’t have to believe them at first, but the continued energy they carry and evoke will eventually become apparent, that’s why affirmations can be so meaningful. Affirmation allows the transference of the word energy, good or bad.

In this new year, remember that each of us holds the power to decide how we will use our power; it realizes our potential to bring about kindness, compassion, healing, peace, strength, possibility, unity, and personal success. In 2021 allow yourself to be a word warrior using only weaponry that each of us can possess to bring about effective change.

I wish you and yours so much love and light and only the highest use of words in 2021!

XO Donna

Start your 2021 New Year with me in a fun workshop series that guides us into living from the hearts intuitive intelligence as a powerful way to bring the head and heart together for managing stress and build personal resiliency. This virtual series starts on January 20th

To register hop on over to https://www.mindfullyconnected.org/group-series