One thing to know about me is that I have developed a love for words. What I mean by that is that words are sigils. They carry a lot of power with them. The English language pays little attention and gives little intention to the words we use. And yet, they craft our realities. They are little spells that create what is around us and portals for which we can understand incoming information.

Words are symbols that represent the ways in which we sense and interact with the world. Words hold within them a symphony of energy.

Let’s say that a dog bit you as a child. We are hanging out one day, and I decided to tell you a cute story about a dog I saw. Do we experience the story in the same way? When I hear the word dog, my senses are alight with joyful memories of my dogs. Visually, I can see their puppy eyes and their tales wag. I can remember the smell of their fur and the feeling of love.

All of that sensory input is weaved into the word dog for me. If a dog attacked you, your sensory weaving is likely to look different from mine. You might remember the feeling of terror and lack of control. You may physically feel a sensation where you were bitten. So, even though we both have a shared understanding of what a dog is, we do not have a shared “feeling” or “experiencing” of the word dog. We have different sensory and emotional memories that then comprises how we construct the way in which we view what “dog” is in the present. In my opinion, this is how miscommunications can happen. It’s not just the words we use; it’s the complex stories that each word holds that are unique to each of us.

Let’s try an experiment, one I use in symbolic hypnosis. If you think of the word laughter, where do you feel it? Is there a specific image that comes up? Does it have a temperature? A shape or color? Is there a weight or texture to it?

Words hold a lot of power in our subconscious. They take on a multi-faceted experience that we can feel in our physical bodies. We think, speak, and relate in metaphor. Feelings are dynamic, and it is often difficult to recall a memory and describe the totality of it with a few words or sentences.

Add in that many English words are comprised of root words that are often Greek or Latin. Currently, I am reading the book Word Magic by Pao Chang. I’m not recommending you read this book. It’s out there, and while I am mind-blown by what I am reading, I don’t buy it totally. In the book, Pao argues that we don’t know the true meaning of many words. He’s not wrong there. I never learned about root words in school. It was not until I started homeschooling that I even cared. Continuing with his point, he writes how words carry a frequency to them that has been spun to seem positive or innocuous, but really, they carry a negative energy that serves as a disruption to your life. In the book, he goes through tons of words. The jury is out on this one for me; I have not finished the book, so I will report back once I am done reading and I’ve run some experiments. I will say it has definitely made me more mindful of my word choice.

I get Pao’s point, and it has merit. As I initially discussed, words carry with them emotions and memories. If we do it at an individual level, is it the same at each higher level, and how does that play out over time?

Do you pay much attention to the words you use?