How your words can either empower or disempower you
The subconscious mind is getting a lot of buzz these days. The folks leading the personal development/human potential movements have honed in on it as the method behind our proverbial madness (i.e. how and why humans operate the way we do). You see, the subconscious mind is responsible for 95% of our decisions and behavior. It is the lens through which we organize our realities, as well as the command center that determines how our realties organize themselves. And it is programmed – first, foremost, and only – through words and repetition.
Words and repetition.
Words and repetition.
It would be one thing if words were objectively neutral symbols, solely defined by intellectual connotation, serving as neutral reference points for the things and ideas they represent. Alas, words are infinitely more complex entities, each encrypted with a unique vibrational frequency that is itself coded with metadata that affects our emotional, energetic and psychological bodies in subtle – and not so subtle – ways.
The Power of Language
The words we use to communicate with others, as well as the ones running on incessant loops in our heads as thoughts and self-talk serve to either empower or disempower us in any given moment. Every word matters, as the subconscious mind tracks and responds to each word we utter, think, type, or scribble. With this in mind, we are wise to attune ourselves to the vibrational frequencies of our words, and to hone our awareness of our habitual languaging patterns. We are wise to choose carefully the words we employ on the regular, to be certain that they our programming our subconscious minds, as well as our world, in empowering, inspiring, uplifting and aligned ways.
Quantum Languaging
Quantum Languaging is a fun, simple method of deconstructing and perfecting the myriad ways, whys, and hows that words shape our every experience. It’s the subject of my book The New P. Handbook Vol. 1: Little Languaging Hacks for Big Change. Here are three tiny Quantum Languaging hacks with massively transformative implications.
1. Try
Well-intended though it may be, the word try has this niggling tendency to introduce doubt into the scenario in question. As positive as it is pretending to be, try is rocking some major confidence issues.
When we modify our actions and intentions with the word try, we invoke the vibrational frequency of doubt, thus paving the way for failure, and inviting failure it into our reality. Try is a cop-out, devoid of conviction, lacking faith, commitment, courage and agency. Uh…yay, try?
The try thing is especially relevant to yoga teachers, or anyone else guiding others to achieve feats of physical prowess. Try is contagious, spreading its doubt vibes from the mouth of the speaker into the subconscious minds of the people to whom it is directed.
For example, let’s say I’m balancing in bakasana mid-class. Then my yoga teacher says, “Now, try to extend your left leg out behind you.” This unfortunate dictate is inadvertently programming me to think that this modification is beyond my capabilities, and that I’m not going to be able to pull it off. The teacher is unconsciously communicating his doubt in the students’ ability to execute them, and thus programming us to fail before we’ve even given it a shot.
When he chooses to empower his students by saying, “Now, extend your left leg out behind you,” the instruction carries with it the teacher’s implied confidence in his students. That confidence, just like try’s inferred doubt, is being transmitted along with the instructions. This emboldens the class to not just try, but to execute, and succeed.
Pro tip: Drop the trys, yoga teachers, and – well, everyone.
2. I can’t afford it.
It’s ubiquitous, this disempowering phrase, which serves to strengthen scarcity consciousness by playing victim to lack. Plus, it’s usually a lie.
“Twenty dollars for a reishi spore tonic?” Sadie gasps, scanning the menu at her local high-vibe beverage boutique. “I can’t afford that.”
Except Sadie has a hundred dollars in her wallet. She can walk out the door with a tonic in her hand, and four more if she wants. She can absolutely afford it. Now, spending twenty dollars on an herbal elixir made of fungus and twigs might not be an aligned or responsible choice when contextualized against the backdrop of Sadie’s financial responsibilities and income stream. Or it might not line up with her values, priorities, and genuine desires. But for Sadie to say she “can’t afford it,” is to completely deny her agency in deciding how she chooses to spend her money, and to paint herself as a victim to her finances in the process. Not a super empowering stance, now is it?
When we claim we “can’t afford” something, we inadvertently align ourselves with the vibrational frequencies of lack and victim consciousness, thus programming our subconscious minds and our realities accordingly. This programming bleeds over into other realms of our lives, strengthening the neural networks in our brains that have us victimizing ourselves to countless other situations and circumstances.
So, it’s not that Sadie “can’t afford” the reishi spore tonic, it’s just that she’s choosing not to spend her money this way in this moment. This reframe allows Sadie to take control of her life and her choices, and to make decisions from a place of sovereign authority instead of lack.
Some Quantum Languaging upgrades that reflect (and thus program) this orientation include: That’s not the wisest use of my abundance, or I’m not budgeted for that right now, or simply, I’m gonna pass, thanks, given that Sadie is confident in her choices, and feels no need to justify them to anyone, because she is an autonomous adult, and an empowered one, at that.
3. Unlimited/Limitless
Limitless and unlimited are words anchored in the very limitation they claim to be free of. And thus, they do little to actually align us with the frequencies of every moment access to every potentiality that ever was or will be, which – when we really break it down – is what those words are attempting to communicate.
Huh?
Look, if I’m a coach claiming to support folks in realizing their unlimited potential, I’ve pretty much squelched said potential before I’ve even had a chance to help anyone actualize it, because I’ve just stapled it to the word “limit,” thereby invoking all the limitation frequencies the word necessarily activates.
You see, the subconscious mind is super literal, and not at all attuned to nuance or subtlety. It doesn’t connect to the “un” in unlimited, or the “less” in limitless. It merely latches onto the “limit” that anchors both words and thus organizes reality accordingly.
The same applies to experiences like effortless or fearless – both of which are infinitely better stated in their positive polarities: easy and courageous.
As for limitless and unlimited, I have taken it upon myself to contribute to our ever-evolving collective lexicon in creating a handy-dandy new word: omniscopic.
This bitchin’ adjective means – wait for it – every moment access to every potentiality that ever was or will be. Use it in place of limitless and unlimited, and watch your world expand accordingly.
Shift your words, shift your world, my friends. Now, let’s get to making this world of ours infinitely more wonderful with our every word.
Dani Katz is an LA-based writer, artist and Quantum Languaging coach/consultant. Also, a recovering Type A Ashtangi: danikatz.com