The Power of a Spoken Word

Have you ever given any thought to the power you let other people's words have on your life? I was thinking about this just this morning and it really gave me a moment of clarity. I don't think I'm a person who is easily influenced, but I am a person who tends to dwell on things.

For example, I was talking to a friend the other day about this. I was telling her about how anal I am about keep my ceiling fans clean, and there was a reason. A few years ago, we were getting ready to reverse our ceiling fan in our living room. It was an odd time of year, it wasn't hot and wasn't cold, so we'd just turned it off. We'd been planning to clean it and then reverse it sometime that weekend. As someone was leaving our house that weekend, they looked up and commented, "Boy, your ceiling fan sure is dirty." Since then, I am very anal about keeping it clean. At the very least, I always keep it on so no one will notice any dirt on it. Seriously? That one offhand comment made me so paranoid that people are going to think my house is filthy. Isn't that nuts? Ceiling fans collect dust; that's just a fact of life. I gave that person power over me.

Does anyone else have this problem? It's not everyone in my life that does this. There are a lot of people that I can take their comments with a grain of salt, walk away and never think about them again. But then there are other folks who just have the ability make me relinquish my own power. You know the saying, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent?" I struggle with this. There are some people who just have a way about them that drags me down to such a low level.

Think about the power of a spoken word. Have you lifted up someone today, or brought them down? You have no idea if telling someone there hair sure does look pretty today, that eye shadow just makes your eyes pop, or simply just a "thank you for all that you do," can completely change someone's day. On the other hand, do you realize that one word, one remark, one thought spoken aloud can ruin a person's day, or make an already bad day even worse?

Think outside of your box for a moment. What, if anything, could be said to you right in this moment that would absolutely change your day? Me? A simple, "You were on my mind..." is always nice. Is anyone around you having an obvious bad day/week? Do you want to add to their stress, or be a light in the midst of it?

These are just some thoughts I've had about the spoken word and the things I struggle with. Do with it what you will.