Whatever the language, we use words to communicate with one another. We all know this. What we don’t always remember though is that we use our own words to communicate with ourselves too. We hear everything we say and everything we think. Everything. And we believe it, we make it so. When we think we can, that becomes our reality, and when we think we can’t, well that does too.
The language we use, and how we use it, has an effect not only on those we communicate with, but also on ourselves. Having a better understanding of:
- what words can do
- what words can’t do
- how words influence our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and others
- how words affect our feelings
- how words shape our experience of reality
- how context affects meaning
means we can learn to master our language and how we use it, for our own gain and that of those around us.