Have you ever thought about words and the impact your words have on your mental health, and then by extension on your physical health? I’m thinking of one in particular, and it may not be the word you think I’m going to mention.
Should.
I should. You should. We should. They should.
I want to eliminate that word from my vocabulary; I can think of very few positive uses of it.
I should eat more veggies. I should call my parents more. I should exercise more. I should get up earlier. I should work harder. I should, I should, I should.
All of those things may be true. The tone of that word, however, is so negative, and so weighted with obligation and the potential for regret, that it almost hurts to think it sometimes.
What if…
What if you substituted “could” or “can” or “will” and change the thinking from obligation to opportunity?
I can get up earlier and exercise longer. I will go for a walk at lunch. I can make more salads. I could skip the brownie. I will call my parents more often or send them more emails. I could, I can, I will!
The words we say (or think) have an impact not only on ourselves, but on the people around us. Think about the impact to your mental health, and by extension on your physical health, if you start changing your thoughts.
Thoughts matter, whether we only think them in our heads or actually say those thoughts out loud. Positive thoughts matter and have a better impact on our bodies than negative thoughts. I thought (ha!) for a long time that my dad was a little goofy for insisting that the body doesn’t subconsciously hear negatives. For example, if you were to say, “I’m not getting sick,” what the body hears and registers is, “I’m getting sick,” and that can lead to a self-defeating situation in which you do indeed get sick.
But if you say to yourself, “I am healthy; I am well,” or “I will stay healthy,” then that reinforces your objective of staying healthy. It worked for me for months after I had kidney surgery in 2009. After the surgery, I caught a cold, which became pneumonia, and I developed pleurisy. That was the final straw at the time. I started focusing my thought process on “I am healthy.” I stayed healthy for a long time until multiple factors wore me down and I caught another cold. But it was a long, long time; close to a couple of years!
Cheers! Here’s to your health. :) You CAN! You ARE healthy. You ARE well!