The Power of Words

People that make lists often find that they accomplish the things on those lists without even necessarily referring to them. It’s almost as if writing is a magic spell that bewitches your mind into completing the tasks laid out for it. That’s been my experience anyway.

I have a fetish for stationary which is a little bit weird because I have an even stronger fetish for digital devices. I guess the habits formed when you are young never quite go away. Because of this stationary fetish I have stashes of notebooks of all sizes and styles. I have little three by five inch notebooks that have lined paper in them. I have five by seven inch notebooks with grid lines, straight lines, and blank. I have notebooks with leather covers. And that’s just a sampling.

I don’t write in them a lot. Especially since I’ve had a cell phone, a tablet, and a laptop. I make my lists on whatever device is handy. But whether I make my lists with pen and paper or I save them in files on one or more of my devices, I often don’t look at them for quite a while, if ever.

The other day I found a list from ten years ago. I went down the list checking off items that I had accomplished. Out of twenty or so items on that list I had done all but two of them. And those became pointless after we moved five years ago.

I think the neurolinguistic programming people got it right. Your subconscious hears everything you say and takes it very literally. When you create a list, whether by typing it in on a keyboard or writing it out with a pen and paper, you are programming your subconscious.

And so this becomes a cautionary tale of sorts. Be careful not to put something on a list that you don’t really want to accomplish. As writers we know, or should know, that words have power. They transfer knowledge, emotion, opinion, in short they convey thoughts from one mind to another, Be careful with your words so that you won’t find yourself in a situation where they can be used against you.

Be kind with your words. They have the potential to change the world for the better, Don’t ignore their power, harness it. Inspire with them, inform with them, entertain with them for they will determine how people remember you.

I know this is true. It is how I remember my mother and father. It is how I remember my grandparents. It is how I remember my teachers and friends. And it is how those that are still around remember you.

Words are what set our species apart from others. Savor their magic. Revel in their sound. And use their power wisely.


Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.