How Words Control Our Power
ByWords Shape Our Lives
We give them our power. You think not?
From early in our lives we hear words as major concepts. They are usually framed as absolutes. You can have one extreme or the other.
I love the Kia commercial where the little rodents say you can have this or you can have that. Even political campaign managers will say the public can generally grasp two concepts and three is difficult and four is overwhelm.
That is why we have difficulty with the third alternative in between the two extremes. It is how our brain likes to be wired.
Try these words:
- Success or Failure
- Win or Lose
- Love or Hate
- Heaven or Hell
- Republican or Democrat
- Fat or Skinny
- Rich or Poor
- Cool or Uncool
- Popular or Unpopular
Being trapped by words often keeps us from doing what moves us or is smart. We wouldn’t want to be uncool. How paralyzing were the words in school of popular or unpopular?
Why is BMW so popular? Is it really heads above heals in quality over a Hyundai Santa Fe or Subaru. The difference in prices equal a few trips to Hawaii a year or eventually a down payment on a rental property.
The problem with the words is that they usually create a giant dose of fear or worship. We worship, envy, admire, idolize people at the positive end of the spectrum and feel differently for people at the opposite end.
Consequently, we crave the positive side and fear the negative side. The fear often immobilizes us and keeps us even from making the attempt. As a male what have we often feared more than asking a pretty woman, (the unattainable) on a date?
Movies are made of this scenario. It expresses how polarized we become from the anxiety of failure. What about the movies where the hero always has the beautiful women, like in James Bond. Then the nerd can never get the woman until the end. We live in extremes. James Bond or the nerd.
They are both popular movie genres because they express our dreams and our fears.
It is easy to leave the realm of reality to patronize or laugh at both sides of our true selves.
How does this affect your goals and daily activities? Are you often paralyzed when wanting to do something that would be desirable and beneficial? Does the fear of failure keep you from taking even small bites out of a big apple?
I always feel that with a hammer and chisel I can split any boulder if I have enough time. It isn’t the way James Bond or the nerd would approach a problem. Neither lives for the in between; the third alternative.
