Choose your words wisely for positive effect Choose Your Words Wisely: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Speak Choose your words wisely… They Can Build or Destroy How to Speak Words of Life

The idea that a picture can convey what might take many words to express was voiced by a character in Ivan S. Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons, 1862: "The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book." But this was not the first time this expression appeared. It started popping up, in various forms, around 1800. Read about its history here . 

It may sound weird but I am grateful for words well-written.  I am grateful for words that somehow express what I myself have been trying to express but have been unable to.  These words could be in the form of lyrics, a book (fiction or non-fiction), a poem, a scribbled note on a coffee stained napkin, etc.  Sometimes these words are grammatically correct and other times they are not.  I try to look beyond that because when a message is profound and moving it doesn't really matter if it's grammatically correct.  How about you? What is a medium that you are grateful for because it gives you an assist in expression?

Oops! :)  I went to bed last night feeling like I had forgotten to do something but I couldn't remember no matter how hard I searched my memory.  So I shrugged my shoulders and went to bed.  I remembered when I woke up this morning.  I forgot to post my Gratitude Attitude for yesterday! So here goes for yesterday... Today I am grateful for words.  Words to express feeling.  Words to explain.  Words to convey thoughts. Words to describe...people, situations, theories, landscapes, etc.  But with words comes great responsibility. We can speak words of life or words of death, the choice is ours.  Words can help us out or get us into trouble.  Words come from deep within us.   Out of the depths of our hearts our mouths speak .  Sometimes my words do get me in trouble, more often when I speak them rather than write them.  It's why I prefer writing to speaking.  :)  Without words we would find another way to communica...

To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise. Alexander Pope   Adding to today's quote I would also say that to swear shows a lack of imagination.  I've been thinking about swearing a lot lately.  It's in movies, books, the mouths of children and their parents, even TV.  And that's just a few places it's heard.  Really?  It's the best *we* can come up with?  Pope was right, to swear is not using wisdom, bravery, nor being polite.  It shows a  distinct  lack of class.  It ends up usually being degrading to others and vulgar in its intentions. Now I've said a word or two in my days.  And sometimes I think the word.  I rarely speak it out loud.  Because I'm better than other people?  No.  Why then?  Because I have a filter and I choose to engage it.  I choose to think carefully about how I want other people to know me and think of me.  Sometimes I slip.  And when I do I immediately feel b...

You don't have to disrespect and insult others simply to hold your own ground.  If you do, that shows how shaky your own position is.   Red Haircrow I have a real issue with people who assert their opinions about all manner of topics with disrespect, derision, patronizing, and foul language.  To use words that are laced with those characteristics is to send the message that you aren't totally secure in what you are saying you believe.  Haircrow has  absolutely  nailed it with today's quote.  In fact, even though I went "on and on" about how wonderful and vital words are yesterday, the best way to hold our ground on our opinions is to - wait for it - say not much at all.  *GASP*  Why not just live out what you believe about XYZ?  And when you do feel a need to talk about it why resort to using disrespectful tones and language?  I just don't see the need.  We are adults, let's act like ones!  And to get back to the point ...

Words were not given to man in order to conceal his thoughts.   Jose Saramago Words are powerful.  We can and we do (at times) use them to heal and encourage.  We can and do (at times) wield them like weapons, our intent to harm or to protect.  But make no mistake, we use words to convey every emotion we experience, every opinion we have, everything we have learned.  Even those who cannot speak audibly use words to  communicate  the same things, they just do it with their hands or their eyes (ALS, etc).  Without words to  express ourselves and let others know what we are thinking we would be lost.  Words help us get to the heart of the matter.  They are the most overused and the most underused.  We overuse them when we should be a little more quiet and we under use them when we don't speak up and let assumptions start to dictate our emotions, etc.  It's a fine line to walk when using words.  Some of us, ahem *grin*,...

Silence is more eloquent than words.   Thomas Carlyle It would be a mistake to not acknowledge the tragedy that has befallen our nation in the past 24 hours.  Unspeakable evil has occurred and precious lives, young and older, have been taken.  Put into motion is a grief that will last years for the families directly involved and impacted.  Put into motion is a fear that has settled into the minds and hearts of those who witnessed this atrocious act.  A community has been shaken by a devastating event and nothing will ever really be the same.  I would venture to say every parent is heartbroken and every human touched by this unspeakable evil. The responses of those who aren't directly impacted but yet touched have been interesting.  Many have taken up their own personal battle cry for their particular views on gun control and God.  Those are the two topics getting the most talk from this tragedy.  I have allowed *you* y...

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.   Eleanor Roosevelt Don't allow people to tell you who you are and who you should be.  Don't allow people to tell you what you are suited for and what is above or beneath you.  When you allow people to define you then you have given them permission to control your life.  And generally what happens is when someone else is controlling your life you feel inferior, even if they are telling you how amazing you are.  Because generally they only think you are amazing if you are performing/behaving up to their standards. Once you don't, they don't think you are amazing, they belittle you and push you to be better which leads, oddly enough, to feelings of inferiority.  You have the choice whether or not you will go through life feeling inferior.  If you have given anyone permission to make you feel inferior you also have the choice to deny them access any longer.  The choice is always yours, even wh...

Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.   E.L. Doctorow Ha!  I love this.  It gives me permission to be other people.  *grin*  Writing allows me to express my ideas, thoughts, emotions, etc in ways that are more comfortable to me than verbal expression.  I read a book by Stephen King called "On Writing" and he gave great advice in it for writers.  One thing that he said which has stuck with me is to be true to your characters.  If they have a different lifestyle than mine be true to it.  If they use language I don't be true to that.  Doing this would be what I would consider schizophrenia, for me at least!  :)  If you write, do you see ways in which you are schizophrenic?  

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.   Mother Teresa Today's quote makes me think of the ripples caused in the water when something hits it. The ripples go on and on.  Just like kind words.  They are one of the easiest things to "throw" at people and have a ripple effect in their lives.  And it seems to me that the ripple effect of kind words also acts as a boomerang, it comes back at us usually. Kind words are easier to speak than unkind ones.  Unkind words take effort to think up and speak out.    What are you "throwing" at others - even if you have differences of opinion, beliefs, etc?  If you "throw" unkind words you might have noticed that they drop down like dead weight and a plunk.  But if you "throw" kind words you will notice the ripple effect that spreads over the surface and depths of the other person's life.  What kind of ripple effect, if any, do you cause in the lives of oth...

Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are.  Unknown Ouch.  Ever since I first read this quote a few months back it keeps haunting me.  Not that I don't know the truth behind it already but the way it is phrased keeps pinging me. I think a lot of times we all speak something about someone and without realizing it we are judging them.  I know I am guilty of this.  It usually hits me about midnight or 2 am, when I'm in a dead sleep.  My eyes pop open and I inwardly groan at the judgement I had passed on someone earlier in the day.  I swear my conscience does this running review all night long while I'm asleep and can't defend or rather justify myself! Where I get stuck is when it is true about the person! No seriously.  There are some people out there that are idiots, for one reason or another.  Or they are jerks, for one reason or another.  Or they are fill in the blank , for one reason or another.  I...

"For whatever it's worth, I'm sorry."   Pretty much every human living has said this at least once, on purpose or not Nope.  No can do.  And for whatever it's worth, it (the "apology") isn't worth anything.  Someone said this to me recently and I got all riled.  Why do we say today's quote?  I'm wondering why because when I hear that kind of apology I think a couple of things: 1)  You are NOT sorry, you are just trying to appease or diffuse a situation.  In fact, do you even know what you are sorry for?   2)  What do you think your fake "I'm sorry" is worth?  Would it be worth something to you if you  heard  it from me?  The person who said it to me also was assuming I was upset and so they were trying to apologize for something they imagined they had done...or said...but weren't sure.  Kind of like covering their bases.  That gets me riled also.   Don't  apologize for imaginary things or to c...

Be careful with your words.  Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.   Unknown The tongue is one of the sharpest weapons we each possess.  It wields great power that brings life or death to the hearer.  (Read this for more about the tongue.) Our tongues deliver words but the words are born in our hearts.  One might argue with me and say they come from the mind but our minds and tongues are only a delivery system of our hearts.  Click here .  :)  So, yes, be careful with your words.  Before you speak them, think about them, and then you may need to examine your heart.  It's always wise to put ourselves in the place of others.  Think about the last time someone said something sharp and wounding to you.  Hopefully you've been able to forgive them and their careless words but I'm betting you haven't forgotten them.  I'm guessing that from time to time they echo in your head and heart and you hav...

Live in such a way that if anyone should speak badly of you no one would believe it. Unknown Ever been in a conversation and between you and whomever else is speaking there's a lot of nodding and agreement over the words/behavior/attitude of someone that has been mentioned?  Usually it's negative*, at least in the scenario I just kind of described.  And that's a shame. What you really want is for someone to accuse "you" of something negative - a word/behavior/attitude - and the other person to be like, "No way!  That is not typical or like fill in the blank with "your" name  at all."  That's the desired response right there.  Now we all have bad and off days so all of us have behaved badly at some point but if we are known for consistently being negative, grouchy, angry, grumbly, etc then there's a problem.  (Yes I am so talking to myself right now!) How are you living your days?  Is the lemonade you are making sweet or so...

Rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength.   Eric Hoffer A person who is weak feels insecure, worthless, unimportant and so they will do and say what they can to insert themselves into the lives of people around them.  Unfortunately they do it in inappropriate ways that are off-putting to people rather than endearing.  Rudeness, overt or subtle, is one of those ways.  Snide remarks meant as "jokes", behavior that is "assertive" but is really just jerky, etc - these are ways in which a weak (hearted) person tries to prove to him/herself that they are strong in character.  Except character strength is not formed nor displayed through rudeness, quite the opposite. The next time you are tempted to be rude, STOP.  Evaluate your motive behind the rude behavior or words.  What are you trying to tell others through your behavior?  That you are strong in character?  Or weak in heart (i.e. character)?  If you are trying to prove ...

Make it your habit not to be critical about small things.   Edward Everett Hale Definition of Critic: 1     a   :   one who expresses a reasoned opinion on any matter especially involving a judgment of its value, truth, righteousness, beauty, or technique b   :  one who engages often professionally in the analysis, evaluation, or appreciation of works of art or artistic performances 2 :  one given to harsh or captious judgment It is often the small, unimportant things in which we choose to be critical about.  And by critical I mean according to definition 2.  We very rarely use reasoned opinion when it comes to picking on and out the small annoyances that others display and we feel the need to be verbal about.  While we do also criticize big things it seems to be the small things that we just can't let go.  We've got to learn to pick our battles and friends I have news, the battle is self-contained i...

Before you speak, THINK : T - is it true? H - is it helpful? I - is it inspiring? N - is it necessary? K - is it kind? Enough said, don't you t.h.i.n.k?  :)  

If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak.   Shaun Shane (?) Ever drop a glass?  It shatters into a million pieces and the smallest sliver is razor sharp.  It will inflict pain just as much, maybe if not more, as the big pieces.  The minute it brushes the skin the response is to pull back from the immediate pain.  You all are smart, you can figure out where I'm headed with this.  :) If we could feel in our hearts the effect our sharp words have on the hearts of those we speak to then perhaps we wouldn't chose to speak with shards of glass.  If only our tongues became what we are about to speak.  It would change things.  Imagine if your tongue became the sliver of glass that is about to cut into another person's soul and before you spoke it cut your mouth.  You, I know I would, think twice about speaking at that point.  Think carefully. How can you say what may need to be said but it d...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.   Audrey Hepburn Love  this.  LOVE IT!  Today's quote is some of the best beauty advice one will ever receive.  True beauty comes from the inside.  On hard days I have a harder time applying these tips, depending on the situation.  So I am reminded today to continue to be mindful of my application of beauty.  For example, it isn't words of kindness if I include a "but" (negative) with it.  Then it just becomes lipstick on my teeth or a really bad color for me to wear.  You catch my drift I'm sure.  :)   So today as you are preparing for your day, doing your grooming, just remember what kind of beauty lasts with others.