Change Your Life by Changing Your Words, by Michelle Arbeau
(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)
Imagine changing the course of your life simply by using the right words. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of OZ, who ended up safely back in Kansas by saying the magic words, “There’s no place like home,” you are shaping your destiny every single day through the energy of the words you speak. The words you use on a regular basis, whether thought, spoken, or written, are constantly creating your reality.
Think about some of the positive (and negative) people you know. Have you noticed that happy, successful people tend to have a positive vocabulary? Positive people exude positive energy and like all things in existence, words carry their own energetic pattern that can affect our own.
A study done in 2005 by Robert Schrauf, titled “Negative Words Dominate Language,” revealed that regardless of age or nationality, each group in the study produced the same results: Fifty percent of the words we use are negative, thirty percent are positive, and twenty percent are neutral. That’s a staggering statistic—but the good news is that we have the ability to change it.1
The latest in quantum physics has revealed that at the base of an atom isn’t solid matter but frozen light particles (energy). This brings scientific clout to what the metaphysical community has believed for centuries: The basis of the universe and everything in it is energy. Words are no different, and also have their own energetic signature. The words we think, speak, and write carry an energetic pattern that can interact with our own personal energetic pattern in both positive and negative ways (depending on the words and how they are used). There are many ways to measure energy, but one of the best ways, in my opinion, is through numbers. Numbers are the language of the universe; all things can be sorted, measured or counted using numbers. In fact, all numbers in existence are created using the numbers one through nine (and also zero, which is a symbol rather than a number).
Language is a gift, as no other species can speak words in a conscious manner the way that humans can. Through this conscious awareness, we are able to shape our destiny through the powerful energy of words. The key to how and what we create is in the feelings we put behind those words.
It has been said by many great spiritual teachers of past and present that there are just two emotions, from which all other emotions are derived: fear and love. Do you know which one of these two base emotions is the dominant force in your life? The answer can be found by examining the words you use.
The words you use everyday have an undertone of either love or fear (positive or negative). Examining the words you use on a daily basis will help you understand which of the base emotional patterns you’re creating with.
The word love (when assigned numerical values) adds to 18 and reduces to the base number 9 (1+8=9). The 9 represents both the beginning and the end of a cycle, is the highest change pattern, and is considered the selfless humanitarian energy (as an example, the sum of the birth dates of both Gandhi and Mother Teresa is 9). Phrases such as, “Love is all there is” or, “Love conquers all” certainly ring true.
The word fear, on the other hand, vibrates to an energetic frequency of 3, the number of imagination and memory. Fears and phobias originate in the mind; we can imagine all sorts of irrational thoughts. In the negative, 3 is self-doubting and self-critical. Phrases such as, “Your mind is running away with you” or, “It’s all in your imagination” support the energetic meaning of the word fear.
Now that you understand the energetic definitions of the words “love” and “fear,” how do you identify with which one you create?
Grab a piece of paper and make a list of the top twenty words you use most often. Categorize them into two columns based on what you feel is their base energy: Love or Fear. Since many of us speak more negative words than positive words, it may seem at first that your list is a little lopsided.
If you do have more words in the Fear category, it’s definitely time to pick new words. Negative words are like energetic junk food, and can have a strong negative influence on what you’re creating in your life moment by moment.
Start changing out your negative words for a positive version by setting a goal of one word per week. Use the new word in sentences (written and spoken) as often as possible, and put it on sticky notes where it’s visible to you throughout the day. These are just a couple of suggestions, but feel free to create your own strategy. It’s important to find a method that works for you so that you’ll stick with it. Don’t expect overnight changes, but do expect over time to see your life shift into positivity with the more you think, speak, and write in the positive.
The challenge is to change your driving force from a place of fear to love—and you can start by changing your vocabulary. Words, like our mind, are tools to help us manifest what we want in life. Our feelings are the energetic momentum behind those tools, guiding the energy in a positive or negative direction. The bottom line is that the people, places, and things with which you interact should make you feel good. If they don’t, that’s your cue to change them.
To go more in-depth with your list and to discover the precise energetic definition of your word list, pick up a copy of The Energy of Words: Use the Vibration of Language to Manifest the Life You Desire. In it you’ll find a word conversion chart to calculate a word’s numerical pattern, strategies for changing your language patterns, how to create personalized affirmations that actually work, a glossary of the top positive and negative words, and many more tools to help you successfully modify your language patterns.
1 Schrauf, Robert W. and Julia Sanchez (2004), “The Preponderance of Negative Emotion Words Across Generations and Across Cultures,” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 25:(2–3), 266–284.
Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2014. All rights reserved.