It has always been amazing to me …

… how easy it is to pick up words and phrases that are tossed around in society.

It’s funny because I have noticed that often when I first hear one of these words or phrases I don’t even like it; I start using it in a mocking way. Then the next thing I know without even being conscious of it, I’m using the word with regularity. To make it even worse, most of these words carry negative connotations with them especially in the context in which they are used. That isn’t a way to be happier.

Many, many years ago when our oldest offspring (“Thing 1”) was 3 or 4, we were in the living room one evening playing games and just goofing off while the TV was on. It just so happened to be an episode of Seinfeld. It was an episode where they were constantly using the phrase “damn it.” We were busy doing other things, so I really didn’t think anything of it. Until … the next day when our sweet little child was walking through the house saying, yes, you guessed it, “damn it.” Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Being infiltrated by negativity?

I tell this story as example of how non-desired things ever so unassumingly enter our lives. One of the things that can infiltrate our lives is negative words and phrases. It goes like this:

• We hear them

• We say them

• We live them (Eww, that hurts!)

We have all experienced a “Negative Nelly” somewhere in our lives. That is someone who is always negative, never has anything nice or good to say. Everything is just awful for them. And they are going to share that with you.

We also know that we never enjoy being around that person because we know that after awhile it affects us and not in a good way.

Yes, Negative Nellies are the extreme cases that really stand out and are obvious, but as with so many things in life, the same phenomenon occurs in much smaller degrees.

So small that often we never notice them. Here are a few of the words I’m talking about:

• Hard

• Difficult

• Disappointed 

• Offended

• Can’t 

• Don’t 

• Won’t

You can google ‘Enchanted Learning‘ and find a long list of not only negative words but positive words as well. And the positive ones are the ones I’m wanting to talk about here.

Don’t be skeptical. Be pragmatic.

I’m detecting a little skepticism out there so just bare with me.   

We accomplish this by taking small steps every day.
Let me demonstrate: take the words hard and difficult. Remove them from your vocabulary and replace them with the words challenge or challenging. Who wants to do something hard? I don’t, but if you challenge me, it’s game on. Losing that last five pounds is sooo hard, but let someone double dog dare you that there is no way you can lose it and that challenge becomes a goal.

All positive: It changes your attitude and your entire energy level. It can work the same with all of these words:

• Disappointed – My expectations were too high

• Offended – Permanently erase with no replacement, it simply means someone else is controlling your thoughts

• Can’t, Don’t, Won’t – I choose to do something else

To live a happier life, we have to focus on the positive and erase the negative. We can do this in small steps by simply removing negative words from our vocabulary. Don’t forget that the herd has a way of trying to slowly and unassumingly turn you back to the negatives. Don’t Be a Cow! stay focused on the positive for a happier life!

Take Action: 

Examine your vocabulary.

Find words and phrases with negative connotations and see how you can replace them with positive ones.