Written by: Suzanne Ellison, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me!"
I woke up with this old childhood saying in my thoughts, “Why, after decades, have I suddenly remembered this saying?"
I repeated the saying again and suddenly realized that it wasn’t true!
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but now, all these years later, I know from personal experiences and the work that I do that words can also harm me.
In fact, they can be far more dangerous than sticks and stones.
Once again, I was made aware of how powerful the mind is.
I had been thinking of what I would write for my next article, and the next morning, this saying, which I hadn’t heard in years, was playing out in my mind.
The meaning of words and how they’re spoken can be very insidious in affecting your confidence, self-esteem, and health in the long term.
It was the perfect saying to use as an example of the power of thoughts. Every day I help people connect the dots between past experiences and current emotional and physical symptoms, such as anxiety, panic attacks, depression, and various health symptoms that seem to have no obvious cause. But there is a cause, and words are often the culprits.
People use words as weapons to emotionally hurt themselves and others.
Words are just words, but when you attach emotions to words, they can become tools that can inflict pain as bad as any sticks or stones.
The difference is your body can heal from the damage caused by sticks and stones, but when you are hurt by the words people say to you, that emotional pain can stay with you for decades
Causing low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and feelings of not being worthy.
You can also create a toxic environment within your body, leading to physical symptoms, such as IBS, psoriasis, carpal tunnel, and innumerable other symptoms that seem to have no cause.
But actually are, as a result of holding onto hurtful words that were said to you at some point in your life.
Because so much of what you believe and hold onto occurred when you were young, you probably don’t even realize that these beliefs, which are like a computer program, are running in the background of your subconscious or possibly even deeper in your unconscious consciousness. So what can you do when suddenly overnight you develop a symptom or that voice in your head keeps putting you down and being critical of every thought and action you have, planting the seeds of doubt that keep you stuck where you are. A great starting point to clearing old negative emotions and thoughts is to become aware of daily thoughts.
Ask yourself why you have that thought? Where does it come from? Why do you think that particular thought when you have other things to be thinking about? Sometimes just realizing why you have that thought can be enough to stop thinking it. But if you can’t remember the situation, then that’s where I would use EFT and start tapping on that thought. You would be amazed at the words and information that will come to the surface and give you the answers you’re looking for. I recently had a client who kept saying…
“I don’t know why I have this thought.”
“I can’t remember anything that would make me think this.”
The whole time she was saying this and trying to remember, we were tapping on her negative thoughts, and then suddenly, as she was saying she couldn’t remember, in the same breath, she said, “Yes, I do, I know exactly the situation that has led me to think this thought.” This meant that we could then tap on the roots of that thought and clear all the negative emotions she had attached to it, and she carried for years.
When your mind is filled with positive, constructive, interesting, and useful thoughts, you start to see opportunities all around you, and it is so much easier to create new and exciting experiences that move you forward in life instead of old negative toxic thoughts, which keep you stuck reliving a past you would rather forget. If you like what you’ve read, then come join my tribe of “Women with Ambition” Living life Without Anxiety in my Facebook group or visit my website.
Suzanne Ellison, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Suzanne Ellison is an energy healing therapist dedicated to improving the quality of life of people who suffer from chronic pain and anxiety to live life on their own terms.
