Why finding your words matters?
“After many more studies, with many thousands of participants - children and the elderly, students and professionals, people who were healthy and people who were ill - we can say with confidence that showing up and applying words to emotions is a tremendously helpful way to deal with stress, anxiety and loss” - Susan David, Emotional Agility, page 88.
Finding our words matters. Our words create the world we live in.
When I was pregnant with my first child, my son Samuel - a friend who is an artist asked if she could paint the world on my belly at my baby shower. It was a beautiful picture of a profound truth: the words we speak over our children become the worlds they grow up in.
Fourteen years later, that baby has flourished into a beautiful young man; growing under the shade of encouragement and affirmation we’ve intentionally planted for him and his sister. Words like: You are kind. You are brave. You are precious. You are loved. You are delightful. You bring joy. You are creative. You are smart. We love the way you see the world. I wonder what amazing plans God has in store for you. These are some of the word-worlds we’ve given our children, like passports, if you will, to travel deeper into truth about themselves and courage for the life ahead.
We are all living in worlds created by the words spoken over us, to us, about us. They might be things a parent or teacher once said – “You’re smart,” or “You’ll never be enough.” Or they might be the words we repeat to ourselves, like “I’m not good enough,” “If only I were more,” “I’ll always be like this.” So often, the things we say to ourselves are words we’d never say to anyone else.
This is where journaling comes in. Journaling helps us find the words,especially the ones buried deep. It pulls us into honesty about what we’re thinking and believing. When we write them out, we start to see which words have been holding us back. And the beautiful thing is: that’s not the end of the story. Thanks to neuroplasticity, we know the brain can change. Our thought patterns can be rewritten. Journaling helps us do just that: write new words, shape new stories, and step into new beginnings. Even the simple act of naming the old story is a game changer. You can’t write the new story until you’ve owned the old one!
“These are some of the word-worlds we’ve given our children, like passports, if you will, to travel deeper into truth about themselves and courage for the life ahead.”
