Today after reading this wonderful post (http://ronjoewhite.blogspot.com/2010/09/laundry-lesson.html#more) I thought of gossip. Then I thought of Seneca's quote, "other's faults are before us, but our own are behind our backs." I also started thinking about how our words and actions can tell others so much about us.
Even a simple conversation can tell us if a person is filled with positivity and gratitude or if they are filled with hostility and resentment. We can interview two different people who have experienced the same things in life, and yet, their reactions to those experiences and the words they would use to describe their life would be so different!
Some people refer to their spouse as the "ball and chain," while others use endearing terms. One mother might complain that trips to the grocery store are too difficult when she "has to" take her children with her. While another mother might say, "the trip to the store takes a little longer than it used to, but I am so lucky to have my kids!"
In words we hear... love, compassion, anger, happiness, gratitude, cynicism...
Even a simple conversation can tell us if a person is filled with positivity and gratitude or if they are filled with hostility and resentment. We can interview two different people who have experienced the same things in life, and yet, their reactions to those experiences and the words they would use to describe their life would be so different!
Some people refer to their spouse as the "ball and chain," while others use endearing terms. One mother might complain that trips to the grocery store are too difficult when she "has to" take her children with her. While another mother might say, "the trip to the store takes a little longer than it used to, but I am so lucky to have my kids!"
In words we hear... love, compassion, anger, happiness, gratitude, cynicism...
Once during a Home Depot visit as my husband and I walked through the aisles we kept passing a couple who seemed to bicker throughout the entire store. After passing them, several times we realized that the man never said a single word. The wife kept making comments about how slow or incompetent he was and how she would have had a better time if she had come alone. The man just continued walking behind her, with his head down, quietly seething as he followed her.
I thought about it for a moment. I thought if she talks to her husband like this in public, could you imagine how she speaks to him behind closed doors. I also wondered why he continued to follow her around and let her treat him so poorly. Even... what happened in her life to make her think it was okay to talk to someone in that manner? I felt saddened by it. I especially felt sorry for the man’s spirit.
Words are so powerful. With our words, we have the opportunity to build someone up or tear them down. For some, encouragement and praise is a way of life, for others it is not.
Today my request is that we all try to be intentional about our words! We can choose to use kinder words for the day, send a text to someone reminding them why they are so great or leave a little note on the kids’ and spouse’s pillows.
"It's the hundredth day of school? Well, I can think of 100 things that I love about you little girl!"
How will your words “build someone up” today?
