Create Your Response

Language is something many of us take for granted. Our ability to speak and to communicate as effectively as we can is one of the characteristics that have helped to separate us from the rest of the animal world.

We seldom consciously work to advance our communications skills past the elementary level so many of us are stuck at. As children we learned our native language with such mastery it's hard to explain why we get stuck once we get past a certain level of fluency, but we do. The language mechanism shuts down after we reach the age of five or six. This is why learning any language after this time is almost certainly accompanied by an accent. Many of our emotional concepts are also cemented in us during this time frame and we start create those self fulfilling cycles we become accustomed to. One way to continuously create expansion during this time is to increase our vocabulary.

The words we use do more than just help us to effectively communicate. The words we use prime our subconscious to the concepts we internalize and learn. When we speak to ourselves in our heads, or when voices in our heads speak, they use the language and words we are familiar with. A limited vocabulary leads to limited thinking and limited emotional processes. We this have a limited problem solving capability. It's the difference between creating a response as opposed to creating a reaction. Sometimes we need to react. If we cross the street while texting and a car comes barreling towards us, we need to reactively get out of the way. When trying to optimize conflict in a social context, a more thought out response can be more effective to bring about a solution.

Words are powerful. They have influence and they are excellent tools. The more words, and languages, you have at your disposal works to your advantage in crafting your response to a variety of situations and removes the limitation of just simply being able to react. An increased vocabulary enables us to create our response.


#elliotyi
#paradigmleft
#habits
#mindset

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