The power of words
I have always been fascinated with the power of words and the power of choosing a word to connote or denote what one is feeling, thinking or doing. One of the words which I frequently hear is “motivate” or “motivated”. Motivated is both the past tense and the past participle of the word motive. Oxford language suggests that to motivate is to “stimulate someone’s interest in or enthusiasm for doing something.”
One may hear someone say , “I will do X if I am motivated to do so.” A person might say to me “I am hoping or waiting to get motivated to do task X. Task “X might be washing the dishes, registering for a class, or finishing a work task. Usually, a person who says this means that they are waiting until they feel like performing a task.
There are also those who seemingly seldom use the term motivate. They simply perform the next task which is on their list or which commands their attention. Recently I was talking to a woman who was sick with the flue this past weekend. Her husband and the daughter were also sick with the flue. The young child is still at a very dependent stage. This husband is a fully abled adult. There was no way to determine if husband or wife were the sickest. All reports indicate they were experiencing the same level of illness. Yet, the wife tended to the child, her husband and did basic home chores. Seemingly, the husband was waiting to feel like doing tasks(to get motivated) and the wife simply did what needed to be done. The husband marveled at how much she was able to accomplish. Yet, if the wife had not been there my guess is that he would have done what she managed to accomplish. He would not have had the luxury of deciding if he was motivated or felt like taking care of their daughter.
I talked to a friend who frequently waits to feel motivated before cleaning his house and doing the dishes. Yet, if a woman in whom he has a romantic or sexual interest is about to arrive at his home he is able to clean the house and do the dishes as well as other chores. A woman I know when she is scheduled to work manages to get a shower, put on clean clothes and perform her professional job. Yet, if she is not scheduled to work she may be “unable” to even get out of bed. She says she hates staying in bed but cannot get herself up.
We use many words which determine whether or not we lead an intentional life. We might hear ourself or someone else slaying, “I found myself saying or doing X.” “I ended up doing what I said I would not do.” “I really want to quit smoking but I purchased another carton of cigarettes.” The list of examples in which we talk as if life just happens is endless.
Obviously, life does not just happen. It is true that Mother Nature may decide a hurricane , a tornado or a tsunami will visit. A car may suddenly pull in front of us while we are driving. A pandemic arrives forcing closure of many enterprises. A spouse suddenly dies or falls in love with another person. A company suddenly finds itself without parts necessary to complete orders. An electrical malfunction causes a fire which results in the house being destroyed by fire. One has an accident, is prescribed pain pills and suddenly has a full -blown addiction. There are a great many life events over which we do not have control. What we do have control over is how we respond to life events. We may not always have control over how we respond physically. Perhaps one is badly burnt by the house fire and unable to function physically, but does have control over one’s relationship to the ensuing pain and different ableness . Perhaps one does not have control over losing a business, but one does have control over one’s willingness to start at the bottom again selling products out of a street cart.
The language we use to direct our behavior may be influenced by messages or truths one has internalized about oneself and the world. Perhaps one has been told on many time that they are helpless, they have what Lenore Walked named “learned helplessness”. Perhaps one has so beaten down by the prison system or genocide that one has become hopeless about the future.
We learn many lies and if we have the luxury of thinking about whether we can accomplish a task - whether we are motivated - we may decide we are powerless. We unconsciously decide that if we can cannot accomplished task A there is no reason to attempt task B.’
Other factors may acutely affect our ability to function. Clinical depression and other illnesses can make it very difficult to even access the messages in our brain which direct the simplest of activities. Yet, many of us will notice that the language we have learned to use has a profound effect on what we are able to accomplish.
The late Wayne Dyer wrote a lot about the power of our thinking. Book such as Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life - The Power of the Tao and The Power of Intentions clearly remind us our thoughts are like the motor in one’s car. They turn off or on off the parts of the body which allow one to do a task.
One of the major teachings of the Taoism is: “Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” (goodnet.org)
Written May 15, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I have always been fascinated with the power of words and the power of choosing a word to connote or denote what one is feeling, thinking or doing. One of the words which I frequently hear is “motivate” or “motivated”. Motivated is both the past tense and the past participle of the word motive. Oxford language suggests that to motivate is to “stimulate someone’s interest in or enthusiasm for doing something.”
One may hear someone say , “I will do X if I am motivated to do so.” A person might say to me “I am hoping or waiting to get motivated to do task X. Task “X might be washing the dishes, registering for a class, or finishing a work task. Usually, a person who says this means that they are waiting until they feel like performing a task.
There are also those who seemingly seldom use the term motivate. They simply perform the next task which is on their list or which commands their attention. Recently I was talking to a woman who was sick with the flue this past weekend. Her husband and the daughter were also sick with the flue. The young child is still at a very dependent stage. This husband is a fully abled adult. There was no way to determine if husband or wife were the sickest. All reports indicate they were experiencing the same level of illness. Yet, the wife tended to the child, her husband and did basic home chores. Seemingly, the husband was waiting to feel like doing tasks(to get motivated) and the wife simply did what needed to be done. The husband marveled at how much she was able to accomplish. Yet, if the wife had not been there my guess is that he would have done what she managed to accomplish. He would not have had the luxury of deciding if he was motivated or felt like taking care of their daughter.
I talked to a friend who frequently waits to feel motivated before cleaning his house and doing the dishes. Yet, if a woman in whom he has a romantic or sexual interest is about to arrive at his home he is able to clean the house and do the dishes as well as other chores. A woman I know when she is scheduled to work manages to get a shower, put on clean clothes and perform her professional job. Yet, if she is not scheduled to work she may be “unable” to even get out of bed. She says she hates staying in bed but cannot get herself up.
We use many words which determine whether or not we lead an intentional life. We might hear ourself or someone else slaying, “I found myself saying or doing X.” “I ended up doing what I said I would not do.” “I really want to quit smoking but I purchased another carton of cigarettes.” The list of examples in which we talk as if life just happens is endless.
Obviously, life does not just happen. It is true that Mother Nature may decide a hurricane , a tornado or a tsunami will visit. A car may suddenly pull in front of us while we are driving. A pandemic arrives forcing closure of many enterprises. A spouse suddenly dies or falls in love with another person. A company suddenly finds itself without parts necessary to complete orders. An electrical malfunction causes a fire which results in the house being destroyed by fire. One has an accident, is prescribed pain pills and suddenly has a full -blown addiction. There are a great many life events over which we do not have control. What we do have control over is how we respond to life events. We may not always have control over how we respond physically. Perhaps one is badly burnt by the house fire and unable to function physically, but does have control over one’s relationship to the ensuing pain and different ableness . Perhaps one does not have control over losing a business, but one does have control over one’s willingness to start at the bottom again selling products out of a street cart.
The language we use to direct our behavior may be influenced by messages or truths one has internalized about oneself and the world. Perhaps one has been told on many time that they are helpless, they have what Lenore Walked named “learned helplessness”. Perhaps one has so beaten down by the prison system or genocide that one has become hopeless about the future.
We learn many lies and if we have the luxury of thinking about whether we can accomplish a task - whether we are motivated - we may decide we are powerless. We unconsciously decide that if we can cannot accomplished task A there is no reason to attempt task B.’
Other factors may acutely affect our ability to function. Clinical depression and other illnesses can make it very difficult to even access the messages in our brain which direct the simplest of activities. Yet, many of us will notice that the language we have learned to use has a profound effect on what we are able to accomplish.
The late Wayne Dyer wrote a lot about the power of our thinking. Book such as Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life - The Power of the Tao and The Power of Intentions clearly remind us our thoughts are like the motor in one’s car. They turn off or on off the parts of the body which allow one to do a task.
One of the major teachings of the Taoism is: “Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” (goodnet.org)
Written May 15, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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