26 May The Power of Spoken Words | Inspirational Literary Podcasts
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Today’s podcast has been edited and adapted from the book Your Forces and How to Use Them by Christian D. Larson, published in 1910.
Every word that is spoken exercises a power in your personal life, and that power will work either for or against you, depending upon the nature of the word. You can talk yourself into trouble, poverty, or disease. And you can talk yourself into harmony, health, and prosperity. In brief, you can talk yourself into almost any condition, desirable or undesirable.
Every word is an expression, and every expression produces a tendency in some part of you. This tendency may appear in the mind, in the body, in the chemical life of the body, in the world of desire, in character, or anywhere in the personality. Our expressions determine largely where we are to go, what we are to accomplish, and how we are to meet those conditions through which we may pass.
When our expressions produce tendencies towards sickness and failure, we will begin to move towards those conditions. And if the tendency is very strong, all the creative energies inside you will move in the same direction, focusing their efforts upon sickness and failure, and thereby producing such conditions in your life.
On the other hand, when our expressions produce tendencies towards health, happiness, power, and success, we will begin to move towards those things, and in like manner create them in due measure. Every word has an inner life force, sometimes called the hidden power of words, and it is the nature of this power that determines whether the expression is to be favorable or not.
This power may be constructive or destructive. It may move towards the superior or the inferior. It may promote your purpose in life or it may retard that purpose, and it is the strongest when it is deeply felt. Therefore the words which we inwardly feel are the words that act as turning points in our lives.
When you feel that trouble is coming, and express that feeling in your speech, you are actually turning your path and beginning to move towards that trouble. We all know that the more trouble we feel in the midst of a problem, the more troublesome that problem will become. And we also know that that person who retains poise and self-control in the midst of trouble, will pass through it all without being seriously affected; and when it is over, is much wiser and stronger for the experience.
When you feel that better days are coming, and express that feeling in your speech, you turn all the power of your being towards the ideal of better days, and those powers will begin to create better circumstances in your life. Whenever you talk about success, advancement, or any desirable condition, try to express the feeling of those things in your words.
This inner feeling determines the tendencies of your creative powers; therefore, when you feel success in your speech, you cause the creative powers to create qualities in yourself that can produce success—while if you express the feeling of doubt, failure, or loss in your words, those creative powers will produce inferiority, disturbance, discord, and a tendency to mistakes.
It is in this way that the thing we fear comes upon us. Fear is a feeling that feels the coming of ills or other things we do not want; and as we always express through our words the feelings that we fear, we form tendencies toward those things, and the creative powers within us will produce them.
Whether the inner life force of a word will be constructive or destructive depends upon several factors, the most important of which are the tone, the motive, and the idea. The tone of every word should be harmonious, wholesome, pleasing, and should convey a deep and serene expression. Words that express whines, discontent, sarcasm, aggressiveness and the like are destructive.
Nothing is ever gained by complaints that are whining, nor by criticisms that are critical. When things are not right, state so in a tone of voice that is firm and strong, but kind. Words of constructive power are never loud or confusing, but always quiet and serene, filled with the very spirit of conviction.
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