Words are powerful.  They hold a vibration and leave an energetic imprint.  Words can touch us deeply.  Make someone fall in love.  Bring us together or pull us apart.  The intention behind the words we use directs the energy; how it will influence, impact, and change everything around you.  This applies to words: spoken, written, or simply held as thoughts. 

Words create reality.  You find this understanding in many wisdom traditions. The choices we make, whether to speak or not, are important.  We shrug off the way words can enhance or inhibit our day, our trajectory.  Our bodies retain the deposit of every cruel or kind word we have spoken or heard.  Words can hurt or heal.

Power of Words

Take a moment to reflect upon your positive and negative experiences.  Think about the pleasure you feel when someone gives you a sincere compliment.  Or the uneasiness, realizing you’ve inadvertently spilled a secret.  How does your body respond?  Where do you feel it?  Does it change your energy?

When someone says ‘I love you’ or ‘I hear you’, we feel the difference when there is presence and attunement behind the words.  Otherwise, it leaves a vacant, hollow feeling.   We each have the knowhow to discern truth.  The more integrated and embodied we become, the more open we are to the harmony or discord going on around and within us.

Are there words that you’ve carried throughout your life?  From your parents, which may have shaped you?  Perhaps ‘whatever you do in life, be the best’ propelling you to success and creating an unattainable impulse for the pursuit of perfection. ‘Who do you think you are’?  ‘Nobody is going to listen to you’.   These words may lead you to believe you are less than who you inherently are.  Words leave an energetic imprint and may define us.

Energetic Vibration

All speech, creates waves of energy radiating through our bodies and flowing out into the world.  Words have a natural energy and hold a vibratory force. If you learn to mindfully direct and align with this energy amazing changes can emerge.

Language is a tool for communication which can be transformative causing joy or pain; creating kindness or cruelty; truth or deception. The pain we may cause could be avoided if we were more discerning with our words.  Relationships, work environment and our own feelings may be transformed when we remember how words create our reality.

Conscious Conversations

Listening is an important competency to deepen.  As we grow and develop, we learn to listen deeply to the subtle energy of our words.  We act as if listening is automatic and we don’t need to pay attention to it.  Deep listening calls for practice, effort, and attention. 

Tune into the emotional residue that your words create.  Notice when you hijack a conversation – you’re talking at someone instead of being attuned to them.  Fixated on your own needs.  This is when it becomes a monologue not a dialogue.  There is no attunement or inclusion of the other person. 

Be intentionally present. 

Spend a day listening. Be mindful of what you say. Observe what you’re saying. Tone?  How you feel after speaking. How others respond.  Develop discernment to perceive truth.   Sustaining genuine connections and deep listening makes people feel heard. Empathy, the basis of active listening, is crucial in building meaningful relationships.

Contemplation

Continually focusing on our pain and suffering traps us into believing that we are a victim, making no allowance for how our agency moves us forward.  The stories we tell ourselves become embedded in our identity.  The reality is, what we choose to say or do, is actually constructing our life.  Sometimes our tiniest choices create the biggest difference in our life.

The way you speak reflects the person you are.  From your darkest shadow parts to your noble intentions and feelings. All contribute to your success or disappointments.  The sheer magic of your words and thoughts drives the power to transform consciousness.

You generate power when you speak from the highest level of awareness. Place your attention on your heart and see what emerges from a  place of stillness…You possess the ability to change your world by using words in an intentional and conscious way, shifting the energy and what you create.

Practices

Elevate your Consciousness
How to speak from a place of truth, compassion and with intention.  These are the cornerstones of mindful and conscious relationships fostering a higher vibration in the words you speak.  This practice allows you to pause and open a space for reflection.

Truth: 
Pausing and asking yourself questions: is it truth, exaggeration or lie?  Recognize that not all truth needs to be spoken.  Will it bring peace or understanding?   Is it life affirming? 

Compassion: 
Is it kind or compassionate? Consciously avoid hurtful, harsh, abusive or malicious language.

Necessary: 
Is it necessary?  What is the intention?  Will it improve the situation?  Help someone?  Bring understanding?  Or transmit information?

Mantras

Mantras help us to focus our mind, release fears and welcome inner peace. When we chant mantras, we connect with the higher energy of the universe.  Mantras are mystical sounds that have been repeated over and over throughout time. Repeating the sacred sound can connect us to higher realms, calming our nervous system.

OM
recalibrates the energy in your physical and subtle bodies allowing clarity and power.

Universal consciousness

OM So Hum
it regulates our breathing, quieting the mind and brings a sense of inner calm. Balances our inner energy flow.

We are all connected

OM Namah Shivaya

powerful for purifying the mind and speech. it can alter and uplift you and your inner and outer environment.

Salutations to the highest consciousness 

This article has been updated originally The Consciousness and Power of Words printed in 2016.