Words

The popular saying 'Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.' Has come a long way. We now acknowledge that in fact, words CAN leave a traumatic imprint on the body and the mind. From what your mother used to tell you as a child, to what your ex partner told you, these words leave wounds that can cut very deep if not addressed.

Words have a deep meaning behind them. They are extremely powerful. They can make you change your mind on a situation. They can lift you up, or bring you down. They can motivate you to make change or they can keep you stuck in the same place. Words can be used as tools to create an impact on others around you. Think of the famous words 'I have a dream' from Martin Luther King. Which motivated millions, if not billions of people to go for their big goals in life that may seem unattainable..

Surround yourself with people who are optimistic about life and you will feel uplifted, or notice the change when you've had an evening with a person that constantly talks negatively. It may leave you feeling drained, or with no drive..

Which brings me onto the origins of words..

All words have a root, a beginning and an end. A middle and a story. The origins of a lot of words tend to mean something entirely different than the spin that the western world puts on them.

Many words in English, Spanish, Italian and French that we use today come from latin or greek origins. Over time the meanings have been changed and skewed but if we take it all the way back to the origins we can learn a lot from how we should really look at the word. I want to dive deep into a few words in particular that have been highlighted for me over the past few days:

'Trauma' (derived from the Greek language) literally means: wound, injury, damage caused by external violence. The word 'trauma' gets thrown around very lightly today, but at the same time the 'stiff upper lip' in us often dismisses traumatic events and pushes them under the carpet. This means these traumatic events literally leave a 'wound' in the body and the mind. If something triggers us later in life that wound then literally gets opened up - almost like that traumatic event is happening again..

'Diet' originally comes from the latin word 'dietia' which means 'Way of life'. In today's society we are constantly thinking that we should be 'ON' a diet. 'My diet will start on Monday' 'I need to diet for Summer' so on and so forth... But what if we looked at diet as your lifestyle: what you do first thing in the morning, your daily habits, who you choose to surround yourself with, rather than not eating pasta?

So how can you make the words in your life have a deeper meaning to ultimately motivate you to 'live your best life':

1. Altering the way you look at words can have a profound effect on your belief system behind that word. We all have emotional triggers behind words from our past experiences, for one person the word 'love' may bring back happy memories of their dog and for the next person the word 'love' may be tainted by an ex partner who broke their heart.

2. Put sticky notes or save your phone background with positive affirmations. These have been proven to help you overcome fear and self-doubt and reduce self-sabotage. Daily positive affirmations help you believe in yourself and what you're capable of achieving.

3. They say you are a mirror of the 5 closest people to you in your life, be aware of the phrases and words your friends use and notice if these have a direct impact on your mood.

4. Notice the words you use when you're talking to yourself! What do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror? What do your say to yourself when you make a mistake at work? Is it 'Oh I look so tired today my skin looks terrible' and 'Oh I'm so stupid I can never do anything right!' If so, can you flip this round to 'My skin is glowing, look how big my smile is' and 'I am allowed to make mistakes, mistakes make me grow and are part of life!'

Speak to yourself like you would speak to the person you love most.

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