Your Word is Your Wand

We all use the power of the word to express how we feel, what we want and what we don’t want. It’s often hard to remember that our word can be one of the most effective tools to create the lives we really want—not the lives we construct with daily routine and to-do lists.

How do you start? By opening your mouth.

You are a creative power on this planet. You are a center of creation itself. And language is one of your super powers. The question is: Do you honor the incredible power you have access to?

Scripturally, it is said that “life and death live in the power of your tongue.”

Here are a few ways I hear people most commonly give away their power:

I am so busy.

I am exhausted.

I can’t.

I have eliminated the word “busy” from my vocabulary. Because being “busy” is just another form of laziness. Being busy keeps you from doing the things you love. Being busy keeps you from being connected. Being busy masks your life with excuses.

What’s true for me is that I live a full life. I am a creative presence on the planet, and I am 100 percent responsible for the life that I lead.

Try on the word “busy,” and then try on the word “full.” What do you notice in your body when you try them on? I find that “busy” leaves me feeling like a victim to my calendar, whereas “full” raises me up into an empowered experience of my day.

Despite my rigorous practice to word choice, I recently stumbled upon evidence that I have not completely eliminated the experience of “busy” from my life. While speaking at the Fear Paradox Summit in Chicago, a participant shouted out, “When is your book coming out?” and I said, “When I have time to write it!”

It’s not an untrue statement. I will write my book when I have time. And yet, so long as I wait for time to magically show up, I can be sure it never will. If we look at all of the hours in the day, we can fill every single one— hence the nine-to-five paradigm. But that doesn’t mean you are being productive or working toward your goal in the allotted time given. Because if you are given a whole day to “do stuff,” you’ll fill the time, whether it’s with work or time wasters (such as errands, chores, social media, web browsing, news watching, information overload, etc.).

What are your time wasters? What do you spend the most time doing that takes you away from your goals?

And when do you actually use your time for things that mean something to you?

It’s all about priorities. And that’s where you should fill your real time: with ideas, concepts and goals that take you somewhere— instead of keeping you in the same busy pattern of tasks completed on a list.

I could feel the moment I responded to that question that I was at the fate of my schedule. In my body (which I am highly attuned to), I could feel the victim mode creeping in.

My word is a powerful creative force. I can use it for life or death. It can raise up my dreams, visions, desires and relationships, or it can kill off, tear down, diminish, emasculate or defend that which is before me.

We always get to choose how we use our word—and our time. Be clear, because your word is your wand.

Point it wisely.

Lola Wright is the Spiritual Director at Bodhi Spiritual Center, a preeminent mindfulness-based community organization in Chicago. A wife, mom, coach, speaker, teacher and hip-hop enthusiast, Lola’s fresh and upcoming voice reminds us of our shared humanity.