How many of you really thought about how powerful words can be?  I know, not something you would sit around and ponder, but I guess I’m the weirdo that does.

I remember being a child and repeating that old saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”    How untrue is that as you get older.  I mean obviously you can’t throw a word at someone and hit them in the head with it and cause a concussion, but they most definitely can hurt your heart and your soul. And just as easily as they can cut deep like a knife, they can also raise your heart. 

I’ve been amazed at the whole Twilight phenomenon.  The release of New Moon in theatres has definitely caused a huge reaction from teens and yes, adults too.  What I found interesting listening to the various talk shows and teen interviews, was the books were the real phenomenon, the words were the draw for these teenagers.  

 So of course, I had to see for myself what it was all about, I’m just nosey that way.  I had seen the movie Twilight, but had never read the books and for my birthday, my husband had bought me the entire series.   The avid reader that I am, I dove right in and within four days had completed all four books.

I have to say, I was not expecting the experience I had, the power of the story, the power of the words.   In fact even after reading the books, I would daze off and replay parts of the story in my mind.  It’s this experience that really made me consider how much words can affect us.      

Simple every day words have such an impact on us they can literally affect us right to our soul.  For instance how many of you have found your emotional state changed just by something someone had said to you?  It could have been “Good job” or “Wow, you look great!” and it has set the tone for your entire day.    In some cases a simple acknowledgement can be such a huge shift for us that it can actually set us off on a totally different course in life.   

For instance a friend of mine loves to paint as a hobby, one day someone admiring her work remarked “You know this is really good, you have a talent, you could sell these”.   Boom…it was as if a lightning bolt had just struck her.   She didn’t even think about doing this professionally, but because of one sincere acknowledgement she started to enrol into painting classes to learn more techniques and just recently had her first art show and sold one of her paintings.   How cool is that?

This all because of the acknowledgment she received, those words were truly a gift to her and set her on living a life she is passionate about. 

So, just by the words that you use every day, you can possibly change the life of someone else, and not even know it.  That my friends, is the power of words.