Improve Your Language, Improve Yourself
Posted by Most of us would agree that how we spoke when we were kids was under constant grammatical advisement by our parents, teachers, and even sometimes our peers. However, as we got older and moved away from parental supervision, our peers, social media, and TV gradually took over and we created our own way of speaking that included slang, curse words, and the occasional use of abbreviations, amidst other linguistic alterations.
Although I can still hear my parents and teachers practically singing in unison: how you speak is a reflection of who you are, where you’re from, and where you’re going. Afterwards, I would silently reflect: who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going? And it was then that I realized that language had the power to break the past, eliminate routine, and transitively build futures. How? By verbally staying positive. We’ve all read articles about how important it is to be mentally positive, but what about effectively speaking positively? Below you can find a few ideas of how to keep not just your mind, but your speech, on the right track by using the following positive language techniques:
Photo via Wikimedia
Surround yourself with positive people
Good people can change your philosophy, which makes a difference in your language and enhances your future. According to Hector Ray, your attitude can affect a lot of what comes out of your mouth.: “When your language is aligned with what you really want to say, then your mind automatically shifts your thoughts to pull you in the right direction.” Verbalize your goal! Mention it to others and get them involved. The more positive support you have, the easier it’ll be!
Eliminate curse words
Think about it: when a popular song comes on the radio and it repeats and repeats, what happens? You start singing and can’t get it out of your head. In the same way, when you use curse words to express yourself, you attract people who also use curse words, and that can make you appear less attractive to others.
Say “yes” more often
Popularized by a Blockbuster hit whose name is unnecessary to mention (Yes Man, obviously), by saying “yes” you are boosting your potential and the options you have in front of you, and the more options you have the more potential that you can achieve. Adrian Savage says “Whenever you say ‘no’ to life, you miss an opportunity to discover something new, to try something you haven’t tried before, to learn and grow, to find some aspect of yourself, or others that you missed before.” By increasing your choices, by saying “yes” you give yourself the ability to learn and add to your personal wealth of knowledge, which will always increase your potential.
The glass is always full
If the glass is always full, your perspective of the world transforms into a place that is brimming with opportunities. This positive outlook will make a person feel that their goals and opportunities are more obtainable. On the contrary if you see the world as a glass half empty, a person’s outlook is more negative and they can feel that there are less opportunities available to them. So speak up! You didn’t drink all that water–you just need to fill it up again!
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So maybe starting the day with breakfast (like mom always said) and “putting your best foot forward” may actually be true. A ground-breaking study by Barbara Fredrickson supports this idea and she even gave it a name; the “Broaden and Build” theory. Through the study it is proven that positive thinking opens your world to more opportunities which enables you to use skills that will be beneficial in life. In Fredrickson’s study there were five groups who each saw an assortment images that reflected anything from fear and anger to joy and contentment to everything neutral in between. After each set of images, the groups answered questions about how it made them feel and goals that they would like to accomplish.
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The result showed that the participants who saw negative images wrote fewer responses than participants who saw positive images. In other words, when you are experiencing emotions like joy and contentment you feel that there are more possibilities in your life then if you’re experiencing fear and anger.
Now if we know that starting our day in a positive manner improves your language and opens up more opportunities in your life, then the next step must be to figure out what we can we do to change the our personal language and expressions that we use every day.The wonderful thing about language is that it can all change if you want it to. We all have access to choosing better words and expressions and when we make that choice it can be the differences in where you live, what you do for a living, and also your future. So the question you should ask yourself is: why aren’t you changing your language already?