Did you know that the English language has 62% negative emotional words and only 32% positive emotional words? And of these positive words what percentage actually gets used? What about your positive vocabulary? What positive words to you think or use in your own mind on a consistent basis? How often do you use them throughout the day? How often are you using negative words? What if you started to seek out these negative words and find positive alternatives? What would happen?
Just seeing a newspaper or listening to the radio will bombarded your mind with negativity in the form of words. What effect does this have on you, and your lifetime?
In an experiment by John Bargh, participants were asked to create a few sentences with words related to being elderly, such as old, wrinkles, Florida, grey, bingo, and then asked to walk down the hall to drop off their paper. The unknowing participants were being timed, those with the “elderly” words actually walked down the hallway slower than the control group. The explanation for this was that the students had been “Mentally Primed” by the words related to being elderly. This really makes me wonder how words are having an effect on my mind and what will happen if I begin to change my words.
When you hear the word “Apple”, what comes to mind? A picture of an apple of course. Not the letters APPLE,. Therefore words are automatically transformed into pictures or concepts in our mind without any conscious effort or knowledge. Could we tip the balance of images in our mind by changing our words? Were those students picturing an elderly person which affected their actions? What pictures do you have in your mind most of the time?
You can start building your positive vocabulary and get Primed for success by making “THE SWITCH”, a list of Daily Affirmations For Entrepreneurs. Give it a try and let me know if it makes a difference for you.
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