Our inner world is shown to the outer world through our words. Our words reveal our thoughts and our emotions. This article will briefly discuss how spiritual growth is related to the words we use.
Spiritual growth is the process of moving closer to our ideal state. Our ideal state is having the ability to let our true nature shine through. And our true nature is that which was given to us by our creator.
To let our true nature shine through we need to remove the many filters that distort our projected inner beauty. What are these filters made of? They are made of our emotions and our thoughts, both of which are expressed through our words.
Why have I chosen to focus on the words that we use? I could easily have focused on thoughts or emotions instead. The reason I have chosen words is that they are the easiest to observe. And they are the easiest for others to observe and point out to us.
If someone says to you that "you seem sad," that is an observation that you could take issue with. But if they just heard you say "I hate everybody" or "I love everybody," their observation is difficult to challenge.
It is difficult to directly change your thoughts because thoughts are so fleeting. If you were to try to follow your thoughts, you would see that they go from subject to subject to subject. To catch them in any one act is very hard.
The same is true for your emotions. They have a tendency to jump up and surprise us. Usually by the time we recognize an emotional state, such as anger, we are too far gone to be able to change what is going on.
But words are different. When we speak we have the ability to immediately hear what we have said. Our words can be corrected or modified once spoken, or even moderated before being sent into the world. So words can become our marker for change and growth. By changing our words we can change our lives.
How does changing our words help lighten the filters that block our true nature from shining through?
The process of thinking, having emotions, and then verbally responding produces a feedback loop. These loops are generated hundreds of times per day and become self-reinforcing. When the thoughts, emotions, and words tend toward the negative, the reinforced feedback loop that is produced becomes self-defeating.








Article comments
1 - Nancy Wylde
Thank you for a very insightful post! Our words create our world - literally!!