The Importance Of Words To Heal

Words are delicious or they can be poison. It is up to each of us what words taste like. For example, "You look beautiful." is delicious to the person you are sharing these words with. "You are a good for nothing." is like eating poison the that person has shared. Many of us grew up in environments where the latter statement was use indiscriminately. We were force fed the toxic words that shaped our tender minds, damaging our psyche. To think that we are capable of using words to destroy ourselves or others is outside of the realm of reason. Remember the childhood rhyme, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, But words can never hurt me?" This rhyme is now obsolete. We are now using words to hurt ourselves or being like a mosquitoes in the ears of others. We have become verbal terrorists. Deliberately using words like bombs and guns to cause destruction in our wake.

One thing I know is that as a child I grew up hearing that I was not as good as my cousins who didn't do as well as I in school, I carried that negative voice with me into my adult life, but used the "Sticks and stones..." rhyme to keep me safe from others negative verbal regurgitation. I lifted myself up by reprogramming my mind, with positive thoughts.

Something happened when I was about thirteen years old. My grandmother was being her usual self, a bully, telling me that I was unclean, because I was having my period. She kept reminding me I was dirty because I was a girl. That I would not amount to anything in her estimation. I was feeling so hurt, and alone in that moment, that I walked away from her and went to a rock that was above the house which had a hollowed out seat and I sat down. I was angry at being trapped in the experience and all of a sudden I felt as if I was growing. I felt myself grow up above the trees and I could see beyond my grandmother's home. I was able to see past the place that was causing me pain. I heard in my mind a voice which said, "You are greater than the experience you are in." I got it! It was really true. My grandmother used sticks and stones that hurt my bones just as she tried to use her words to hurt me, but I was shown that I was more than the pain I was experiencing. And you know something, She suffered a stroke about a year later and my sisters and I cared for her tenderly, we did not allow her own poison to make us like her. She did not change much when she got better, but I grew beyond her toxicity.

If you are under attack at home, in secret or in public, be aware that you are greater than the experience you are in. Nothing can hurt your spirit especially not words. It has no power over you except for the time you take to stop and consider it.

Love is all you need...

“All you need is love…” a catchy phrase from John Lennon’s song. Pretty cool, we sing it with our arms wrapped around each other. We try to emulate these words. We send love to our friends and loved ones. Love is the only way that healing can occur in our lives. Love is the only way that healing can occur on the planet. Love of others sometimes has come before love of our selves. Many of us have put ourselves aside, trying to show that we are capable of expressing love by giving it to others. We try to forgive while carrying anger towards ourselves because we are angry with ourselves. For many of us, intimate love that causes us to feel connected to another is also elusive. Even when we feel that we have found our soul mate/twin flame, the one who is the complement to us, we find that intimacy is a distant echo, an illusive that try as we might, we cannot catch. We love our children and even they seem to be rebellious, pushing the love we give them away. Each morning we wake up, we search for that connection with our self and everything else. We try to create a feeling that we are ok.

How do you feel about yourself today? Are you contented with your accomplishments? Do you like the person who you are? Do the words of John Lennon’s song reverberate through your spirit, your body and your life? You work hopefully at a job that fills you up, are you happy in it? If not, why? Are you happy and in love with your life? If not, why?

These questions are not meant to challenge you or make you afraid. Rather it is meant to starting you on an internal dialogue. I am sure you have asked yourself these questions. Sometimes the answers are elusive because we tend to judge ourselves harshly as we search. “Years ago, a colleague of mine, while she and I were walking in the hills around Sedona, Arizona, bent and picked up the red rocks that were strewn along the way. She broke each rock in two with her strong hands and then flung the offending rock back to the ground. After about ten minutes of enduring the hollow echo of the offending activity, I asked her what she was doing. She replied that she was looking for a perfect rock to take back home with her. She was looking for the perfect rock and instead of waiting until she found one that spoke to her, she destroyed many, disturbing the peace of the environment trying to find the one she desired.”

This story reminds me of how we seek our inner truth. As long as we spend our time criticizing our self for what we feel we did wrong or did not do, we will not find happiness. We discard much of what we feel and realize about ourselves because we are afraid of seeing our truth. We are so joyfully beating up on ourselves that we forget to love ourselves first in order to be able to see our truth. I would love for you to look at yourself and your life without judgment. To find a way to “see beauty even if it is not pretty every day…” Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Our children are precious. Please teach them to love themselves through our example of loving ourselves. It is not our words that convey the loudest message it is our actions that leave a lasting imprint on our children and our world.

 “All you need is love…” Be love by being in love with yourself. Be joy by being joyful within. Teach truth by finding your own inner truth. Be a lasting example of the greatest human being that ever existed by acknowledging your own divinity. Yes we can all be the greatest that ever lived. We can all cross the finish line at the same time it is called “a tie”. We can all lead it is called cooperation. We can all feel and be special it is called love.

“Love, love, love, All you need is love…” Let this song uplift you today, emulate it in your life so that it can flow from the source of your inner being manifesting in the greatest love fest the world has ever seen.

We are looking for the thing that will leave us feeling great about our self, that will make us fall in love with our self, that will make us more agreeable in our daily lives. We are so much judging our self that we have a hard time finding the elusive love, love, love.