Check how they Influence Health and Wellbeing

The worldly-wise master wizard, Professor Dumbledore, sums it up beautifully when he declares, “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.”

At Phool Patti (that’s all about looking good ‘naturally’) we keep reminding that external looks are hugely influenced by how we are feeling inside. The most beautiful girl in the room would pale into insignificance if she had a gloomy look or was forever scowling. Conversely, another girl perhaps not- so- appealing would hold centre-stage if she were a happy and vibrant person.

So, here we discuss how we can consciously choose to live kinder and even feel and look better by our choice of words.

Words hold tremendous sway over us, and by extension, on our moods that affect how we look at the world. Says Ruby Walia, Founder-Director, Phool Patti,” Talking from my own experience, I have seen that they have a definite impact on us. Words have managed to affect me adversely in the past. I know my job well and am confident about it, but whenever I was harshly and unfairly criticized by a certain person, I could feel my enthusiasm and conviction rapidly ebb away. My head started clouding with needless self-doubts. Am I not good? Am I not being able to deliver to my max potential? These are the questions I kept asking myself.”

She adds,”Quite naturally, this affected my output. I was concerned and determined to emerge stronger and better, and I eventually did that. But such experiences made me acutely aware of the influence of words and why we must always be conscious of our choice of words.”

Does this sound familiar? I guess most adults have faced similar situations and experiences in life at some point.

“Personally, I am now much more aware how I choose words to express myself and my thoughts,” she concludes.

Words and Water – An Experiment by Masaru Emoto

The power of words has been proven scientifically by Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto, through his now-famous experiment commonly termed as Words & Water Experiment. In the 1990s, he went on to conduct a series of interesting experiments on the effect of energy of words on water. It’s known that when unpolluted (free from impurities) water is left to freeze it forms beautiful crystals. However, if water contains impurities viz. fluorides, no such crystals form. Both the cases are easily observable under a microscope.

Now comes the fascinating part. As part of his experiments, Emoto poured water free from impurities into differently labelled vials. One had ‘Fear’ marked on it. Another had ‘I hate you’. A third had ‘Peace’ while the fourth had ‘I love you’. Then, they were put together for freezing under identical conditions.

Can you guess the results? You’re right. In vials that had positive words and messages on them, water froze forming beautiful crystals, gleaming and perfectly hexagonal. It didn’t in the ones that had the opposite. There, the crystals were broken and misshapen. Emoto went on to document the findings of his experiment with words and water crystals. His results were detailed in a series of books of which The Hidden Messages in Water was one.

In the experiment by Masaru Emoto, when words of love, peace, and gratitude were written on vials with water and frozen, the water crystals took on beautiful geometric shapes. But when negative words were written on another sample and water was frozen, the crystals were irregular and misshapen. We can conclude, therefore, that different words have power to alter the freezing process of water differently.

The Healing Power of Words in Relationships

So relevant in our times, words have come to assume huge significance in our interpersonal bonds with our loved ones – parents, children, siblings, partners, spouses, and friends – because they are often linked directly to emotional states. Emotions have a definite impact on our bodies and consequently how we behave with others. If we are hurting inside, it is important to heal rather than indulge in an outburst of hate and abuse that could create a ripple effect of hurt in our immediate circle. As a sensitive human, one should be sensitive to another’s hurt and try and heal it taking trust into confidence.

Remember, you can convey both hope and healing through words. Motivation and encouragement, cheer and solace can all be offered through right words. Each one of us has a little child inside us that yearns to hear some special words. How wonderful it would be if we could guess those unique words and offer them in need to the little child inside a loved one.

The Healing Power of Words in Prayers

Strength, courage, recovery, hope. They can be “given” to a loved one through a prayer, which is, in fact, a beautifully worded phrase. On behalf of your loved ones, through your prayer you are reinforcing their purpose in life, restoring their hope, and giving them courage to go on. Prayers provide strength and comfort and have an important place in all religions of the world.

Words Affect our Thoughts and Emotions are directly related to Health

Words spoken harshly or dismissively to another person (even casually) may have a profound effect on the individual’s thoughts and emotions, particularly if they are sensitive. In an extreme case, they may be scarred for life.

Medical science has proved that negative emotions not managed in the right way have a long-lasting poor effect on an individual’s health. Persistent negative attitudes of inadequacy, anger, jealousy, want, helplessness, and hopelessness can lead to chronic stress and even depression that are responsible for throwing the entire wellbeing into chaos.

They upset the body's hormone balance, deplete the brain chemicals required for happiness, and damage the immune system. Chronic stress can decrease our lifespan. Science has now identified that stress shortens our telomeres, the “end caps” of our DNA strands, which causes us to age more quickly.

Poorly managed or repressed anger (hostility) is also related to a slew of health conditions, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and infection.
Source:https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/how-do-thoughts-and-emotions-affect-health.

Before we end - The Bible says – Let your words be good and helpful -
Ephesians 4:29. In Buddhism, there is immense importance on the Right Speech, also known as the Wise Speech or the Virtuous Speech. This is speech that is uttered to give peace and happiness to one’s own self as well as others.

All the leading religions of the world have consistently reinforced the power of good and kind words.

It would be a better world for each one of us if took a little time to be mindful of what we utter.