How to Make Yourself, and Others, Feel Good With your Tongue!
We are blessed with a marvelous and mighty device that can, in moments, stir the best feelings, or the worst, in ourselves and in those around us. That device is, of course, our tongue. I am referring specifically to our tongue’s capacity to produce sounds and words. In virtually any situation, any crowd of people, or any solitary moment, you are able to make massive changes in how you and anyone within earshot experience that moment simply by properly using your tongue. A few well-chosen words can kindle a flame of warm passion, or violent rage. Equally, the right words can subdue that rage or dampen that passion.
Recall how, as a child, you had dreams of ‘growing up’ to be a fireman, an astronaut, or a doctor. You may or may not have reached those lofty goals, but you have grown to become an artist capable of painting, with a few words, emotional masterpieces or disasters. Perhaps you don’t think of your manners and methods of speaking in that way, but I’ll bet you can recall saying something that made a friend feel very good. You probably also have no problem remembering causing hurt with your words. We all have had the experience of talking ourselves up with our internal voice, bolstering courage and confidence. Unfortunately we can probably equally easily recall using that voice to, with a slightly different tone, berate and ‘beat ourselves up’.
In invite you to consider playing a game with your speech patterns. Pick a period of time, maybe 10 minutes, maybe 10 days, maybe the rest of your life, and during that period of time commit yourself to only using words that produce good feelings. Pretend that you are a word gun (you truly are), and resolutely insist on only shooting happy words at yourself and others for the duration of the game. Resist any urge to do damage with your words, regardless of how angry you might become, or how much you feel the listener deserves to suffer at the hands of your tongue. No matter how badly you screw something up, during the duration of the game, only use pleasant words on yourself. If you slip up, forgive yourself, and start over. Once you really start paying attention to how impactful on the feelings of yourself and others your words can be, you will gain a new appreciation for the power of your words.
As a clinical hypnotist, I am paid to make people feel better by using nothing but words. I assure you that you have the same capacity. With practice, words can be used to melt phobias, dissolve long-standing destructive habits, and most importantly, just make people feel good. Start a collection of words that make you feel good. Experiment, and see if they can make others feel good as well. Additionally, pay attention to the tone and energy of the words, and how they make you feel. Notice how words uttered from a smiling mouth almost always sound, and feel happier. Make it your goal to perfect the ability to create joy and wonder with a few simple linguistic movements of your tongue. Then go out in your world and target practice. Find yourself rampantly creating good feelings just by the words you use. See if you don’t agree with me that creating good feelings with words is one of the best uses of your tongue.