Your Words Are Powerful
Your Words Are Powerful
What can cut you but never makes you bleed, can heal a heart that never had visible scars, you always hear but never see, comes out of your mouth but you can’t taste, is easy for anyone to use and is normally free? The answer is words.
We use words every single day often from the moment we wake up to the moment our heads hit our pillows at night. Our words are so powerful.
The bible says in Proverbs 18: 21. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits.”
What does this mean? Let’s take a look. What this verse is saying is that when you speak you can either share words that build others up or words that break them down. Something I encourage everyone to think about is what kind of words do you use most of the time? How do you talk to the people around you? How do you talk to your friends, teachers, younger siblings or your parents? Are you using words that are kind? Or do you say things that are mean and hurtful? A lot of times we treat words like bouncy balls. We throw them around like they don’t matter and as if they can’t hurt anyone. But the problem is our words are more like bowling balls. If you get hit by a bowling ball you are going to feel a lot of pain and it will probably last for a long while.
I bet you can think of a time someone said something that hurt you. Even if you are an adult you can probably think of a time as a little kid someone told you something that hurt. Statistics show for every 1 negative thing you say to someone it takes 20 positive things to cancel it out. That’s how important your choice of words are.
Now that we’ve talked about the words you are using let’s talk about the words you’re listening to? What are you letting into your brain? What kind of music, tv shows, movies or even friends are you listening to? Are you letting things that curse or talk about inappropriate topics into your head? Everyone knows the saying you are what you eat. Well, the same is true for what you take into your mind as well. The things you feed your mind are the things that will come out of your mouth. A common thing I see a lot and have experienced myself is when you are hanging out with friends who curse or listening to music that is explicit it becomes almost automatic to start to use the same kind of language. Now I’m not saying you have to completely stop hanging out with those friends and one thing I’d do is I would try is to explain to them that you are trying to stop yourself from developing that kind of habit and ask them to do their best to not cuss around you. But you may have to limit your time with them if you find yourself picking up their bad habits. There is nothing wrong with cleaning out your playlists or finding a different friend to hang out with and in fact, I would encourage it if this is something you are struggling with.
Our words are powerful I see them as a superpower. If you use them for good you can completely make someone’s day. One thing that happened over the summer (a little bit of background I work at a summer camp in south Texas) I was having a rough day and it was during our late-night event, so it had to have been between 10 and 11 at night. We have long days at camp. I was working a table that was making bracelets that represented the fruit of the spirit. A kid came up to me and said, “Hey I saw you dancing in the Caf.” (When I work the salad bar during dinner I can hear the music and can’t help but dance.) I was a little embarrassed because honestly, I forget people are around and watching me most of the time and let’s be honest unless I’m ballroom dancing I’m not very good. So I said something along the lines of, “Ha-ha, Yeah that was me.” Then he looked me right in the eyes and said, “You have no idea what that means to us. Thank you.” It was simple. I didn’t know this kid or anything about him. If I saw him again I don’t know if I’d even recognize him. But the simple act of saying those few words made my day.
You have no idea the power your words can have on someone. In fact, one thing I have started doing myself is anytime I see that someone looks nice or I like something about someone I have a policy where it is basically my moral obligation to tell them. Even if it’s a total stranger I am passing on the street. This was not always easy when I first started but now it’s become second nature. I challenge you to try it! It’s always worth sharing something if it will make people smile.
So we’ve gone over a lot today but there is still so much more when it comes to the subject of words. I hope you enjoyed this post and hopefully, you learned something new along the way.
My name is Tori Peters I am an Entrepreneur, Artist, and Author.
If you are interested in learning more about words and their power, I have written a book on this subject called The Power Of Words For Teens you can find it on Amazon for Kindle and in paperback form. (I do recommend that the reader be 10 and up because I do go into some serious subjects like abuse).
Here is the link as well:
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