Words

By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.
- Winston Churchill

For years, I have been aware of the power of my thoughts. And recently, the power of my words, which are the result of thought (and sometimes the result of not enough thought). I came across this message somewhere (I wish I could remember where).

A word is like a living organism, capable of growing, changing, spreading, and influencing the world in many ways, directly and indirectly through others. I never thought about a word being 'alive' but then I thought of words spoken 3,000 years ago, written down and passed through many generations, and they seem quite alive when read or spoken today, having lived 3,000 years. As I ponder the power of the word to incite and divide, to calm and connect, or to create and effect change, I am ever more cautious in what I say and how I listen to the words around me.

I have given myself the personal challenge to refrain from complaint, and in its stead to speak only of the good that could come from a situation. And so far, it has been manifesting more good.