Everyday Canvas

Carpe Diem and the Effects of Words

Prompt: “Memories are nice little possessions as long as you don't ignore the present when you go out to play.” Nora Roberts How do you feel about this? Write anything you want about this.

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I totally agree with what Nora Roberts says in this quote. The Present is what matters, although one may find pleasure in remembrances. After all, the Past has been a good teacher, but now, it is only a ghost, and I’m all for living fully in the present.

Even if the past can be full of splendid memories, we can never have it back, but what we can only do is to seize the day, cause something delightful to happen, enhance our lives, ease others’ burdens, and help ourselves and the people around us laugh and love again.

Prompt: Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist and Mark Robert Waldman, a communications expert wrote in Words Can Change Your Brain , “A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.” Do you believe that by changing your words, you can change your life? What words do you choose to call yourself and to focus your energy on, and do you think they are signaling you who the-self-in-you is?

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According to the scientists, the cognitive part of our frontal lobes is deeply influenced by words. That is why the coaches, in sports and in mental health, stress the importance of positive affirmations. This may be partly because we may be accustomed to worrying as a defense mechanism that was put in from the primal times of human existence when people were always in danger of being hurt or killed. Danger produces fear and fear causes stress-producing hormones to flood our bodies. This shuts down our logic and reasoning, making us worry or feel depressed for nothing.

On the other hand, when we provide the stimulus of positive words and thought, we find that, in time, our worrying subsides and we are happier than before. It may be a good idea to keep track of the times we think negatively and even write them down, and in reverse, replace the negative words with positive ones.

For example, before learning about this replacement trick, when I broke something or didn’t do some things right, I used to berate myself inside my head with words like ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ or ‘I did it again!’ Then I started to replace those word-thoughts with positive ones. I think, now, my life flows easier when I do this.

Does this mean that I am never cross with myself? No, I have always been harder on myself than on others, but when a negative reproach or thought surfaces, I now replace it with a positive one, and I think, this new attitude works very well for me.