The effect of words... :)

I realized that I tend to focus on things besides my personal interests on my blog, I mention school but skip over what I am learning so my blog is actually kind of interesting (I hope) ha ha. Anyway, I decided that tonight I would share a little of what I have been thinking and learning about these past few weeks...

Lately I have been noticing that most of the posts on facebook are really negative. I am not a big user of facebook, I usually get on once or twice a day for five minutes or so to take a break from homework or whatever, but at the moment I feel like I don't want to anymore. I'm not going to say I will never use facebook again and that I am deleting my account or anything but whenever I even look at it, I end up leaving the site with a gross feeling from all the negative comments...does anyone else feel that way?? Some days are better than others, I just wish people could post better stuff...It's like, I want to stay in touch with people but is it worth it to have to look at all the depressing, ornery, sarcastic stuff some of them post all the time? Jeremy and I have been reading and learning about a lot of different stuff lately, we learned that the majority of our society focuses on what we "don't" want, what we "didn't" understand, or what is "not" right, people grow up using negative language...why focus on the negative when I can focus on the positive? Our subconcious minds take in everything we say, so if we use negative language that is what it is receiving. We are taking a challenge to use only positive language...so instead of saying "I don't understand" I could reword it and say "I need you to explain it again" or whatever the situation calls for. This might seem weird. But have you ever tried to go a whole day without using any form of "not" in your sentences? It's hard. ha ha. So we will take out all negative words like "no, not, didn't, couldn't, isn't, don't, won't, can't" etc. We have two jars with nickels in them, one is mine and one is Jeremy's...whenever one of us says one of those words...and we notice or the other person catches us, we have to give a nickel to them for every time we said one negative word. One of the reasons we are doing this now is because we want to be able to raise our children with positive language, I really dislike using the word "no" with Bridger, I feel like it is ineffective and obviously negative. Really the only thing he hears from this sentence...."don't touch that plug" is..."touch that plug." lol. Seriously. If instead I say something like, "mommy needs you to keep your fingers off the plug" he listens almost immediately every time. It is pretty amazing. Doing this requires you to expand your vocabulary, it is crazy!! I guess that is another reason it is good for people. Anyway, we want our children to grow up using more positive language themselves and hopefully it will help them to stay focused on the right things and be more positive themselves.  

You might think this sounds ridiculous, maybe it is...this is definitely difficult to get used to, but, if you are up for it, try using only positive language for a whole day...a half a day...a couple hours...a short conversation...and see how you do. Have someone try it with you and catch each other, you will be surprised at how often people use the negative words in their sentences. :) 

(today I was getting really angry because I was trying to have a conversation with Jeremy and he kept taking nickels. I almost freaked out. So yes, I still have quite a ways to go ha ha. :) )

P.S.- We are psychology majors...shoulda seen this coming. ;) ha ha. I love this stuff. Call me crazy, but I could learn about it all. day. long. The human body and brain are absolutely amazing, and honestly, knowing what I do about how we as humans work and function strengthens my testimony because I know that we are such miracles created by God, there is no way that humans were created by "coincidence." Heavenly Father knew exactly what He was doing when he made us who we are, it is truly amazing how everything works together like it does...and btw, I believe he wants us to be positive. ;) Just my opinion.