Your Words, My Words, Our Words....
And the power we have together to create a wonderful bright world!
Recently I have been thinking a lot about the power of our words.
In my life, words are very important. They are not only my livelihood, but they are much more than that. They are the expressions of my feelings, the release of fear that lies within me and the only way that can really help me heal and hold onto hope when all odds are against me.
In today’s Monday Social Zoom get together (linked here) we are looking at the book ‘The Four Agreements’ by Don Miguel Ruiz. It is one of my favourite books and back in January 2024, I chose it as a book that I would lean on as I travelled through the year.
Tonight in our zoom, we will look at the First Agreement - to ‘Be Impeccable with Your Word’. This is a very interesting topic because in my re-reading of the book, I was reminded of not only how important my words spoken to others are, but as important if not more important; are the words in which I speak to myself. See that’s the starting point - US! If we speak unkind words to ourselves in our minds and hearts, then it is an automatic human response to then apply those same words to others.
What I love about this agreement is that Don reminds us that we make a whole lot of agreements when we are small and when we are growing up, that we don’t even notice until later in life. It is only when we can look inside ourselves later in adulthood & if we are willing of course, that we can truly see what makes us thick and equally what makes us joyful. Then and only then can we reflect on what parts of us are really serving not only the good that is us, but the good of others too.
If we speak to ourselves in a negative mindset on a daily basis while carrying judgemental tone with those words, then it is only natural for us to apply that same judgemental mindset to all we meet on our path and of course, it makes sense that this is what is truly tearing our world apart right now.
In 2024, there is a lot of pent up anger as well as high energy expressed anger. There is a lot of chaos, a lot of fear and a whole lot of triggered, projected and misplaced negative and intense emotion. I really believe our world has never been in this sort of tangle before. Yes, wars have happened before, people have hated before, but people were living in a totally different time. A time where education, communication and relations were completely different. A time where we couldn’t hurt someone from an instantaneous swipe of the word ‘send’ , we could not hurt so many people all at once who were physically not in our presence, and I really think the people of the past recognised that survival really was a gift whereas nowadays it’s no longer about survival but its more suppression of each other and in a subliminal yet intentional fashion. ‘I am better than you’. ‘I have more than you’. ‘I am further up the ladder than you’.
Back in the day there was no ladder, just the hope that you could support your family with a roof over your head, enough food in the press and the presence of nice neighbours sharing what ye all had together, just trying to survive and make the best of very little.
It really is a complicated time to be alive. Amazingly I can have my skinny mini Cappuccino in three flat minutes handed to me made by someone I’ve paid to make it, I can order a book online from any country in the world and have it the next day and I don’t even need to be loyal to a friend anymore because there are seventy five million more humans inside my phone that I can pick up if I wish. Of course this is where the bigger picture comes into play and this is where Don says we must look within to really take value and stock of what we bring to the outside and what kind of world we are creating.
See the world is uneasy. It too is talking to itself with a negative mindset. Our news headlines. Those who are in power and are meant to be taking care of us. Those who are meant to be leading and inspiring us all speak with such low level tongues and negative energy words. There is no real surprise with what has happened on the ground really because at the top, there is chaos, disharmony and a whole lot of humans driven by power, money and ego which never makes for a happy place. Also it is a different type of power that is now up for offer, it’s not just one of two big players, it’s a whole array of suppressed angry humans living at the top and to be honest it is scary on so many levels.
But it is in that picture that we must pull back down within ourselves. We cannot control what goes on at the top. We can only control what goes on within us. We can only contribute from where we are inside ourselves and this is where Don’s first agreement of ‘Being Impeccable With Our Words’ starts and ends. If we are kind and gentle to ourselves, we can be kind and gentle to others. Those who speak with harsh tone and fragmented selfish words are indeed doing that in the morning to themselves before they start the day and then of course they bring that same judgement with them along the path in which they meet so many.
It really is up to us how we turn up. We cannot control anyone else only ourselves in this life. It is this practice of letting go of how I want and wish others to be that has helped me in ways that could not have shifted without me realising that it’s not about how others act but how I act that counts. I have let go of a false limiting belief that what anyone else does has anything to do with me. See it doesn’t. The only focus I can hold and should hold is to keep myself in line and then only then will peace sit within my words, sit within my language, sit within my world. I can only encourage peace by being at peace myself. And our words hold such a huge part in that peace being possible.
So for the world to heal, for society to move towards a lighter shade of itself, for the next generation to bring forward a healthier mindset and to bring words from soft hearts forward rather than angry minds, we must continue to work on ourselves and keep the light shining from within. We must watch, listen and lean on what our words are saying to us before we even consider what others are saying. We must bring the best of us forward to then be able to help, support and love those around us.
Don’s book is just lovely. It’s so simply written yet carries a really deep meaningly reflection on how to become and to be a better person day by day. It awakened in me the importance of how me being nice to me inside my mind and soul, leaving the judge far far away from my inner self, allows me to be kind to so many others that I meet. To begin with kind words spoken to yourself leads to so much more kindness in the world and I truly believe that is the best way forward for us to bring light to a world that seems to have so much to say yet is drenched in doubt and darkness. The light begins with us!
I hope you enjoyed my words today and if you feel like joining our group of like minded pals, the zoom get together takes place every Monday night. You will find all the details here in the poster :)
Also to mention I’m getting closer to the final design stages of our ‘Keep Looking Up’ 2025 Calendar - It will be a ‘Living and Laughing with Lou & Granny Nancy’ Special and it will be a limited edition calendar with only limited supplies of it on sale before Christmas. I will be opening up a pre -order link from my website and you will be the first to know about it along with the FB family when that pre-order door is opened. I have spent hours and hours on this calendar and I can promise you that it will be like no other wall calendar you have had before. If you enjoyed my book, this calendar has the same sort of magic spread within it and with every word, I have you in my heart as I put it together. I still have a good bit of work to do on it but we are getting there. Keep your eye on this space and let me know are you as excited as me for a ‘Keep Looking Up’ Calendar in your life ;)
I’m as excited about my calendar as I am about this sunset x It’s so important to find the joy in the little things that are right beside you.
Thanks so much for reading this piece and for being my ever loyal and faithful Substack family and friends.
Your support means the world to me.
Love always,
Lou x
💜❤️💖🩵xxluv you louise
Lou, you are fantastic, spreading love and light authentically. Your kindness and love is infectious. I always remind myself that we all struglle and that is why it is a comfort to go hand in hand. Keep being brilliant and sharing your love. Annmarie.