Of course, there are more words and labels we use in our language that limit our search for power. Some are passive and loaded but the left brain has a hard time differentiating from the literalness. Success feels like a good word to use but it is also limiting. Failure is another. Because regardless of the outcome, effort was exerted and something can be learned from that experience. Good and Bad are sparing because of the way we measure and label people and situations. Words like these don’t do a good enough job of describing the situation. What is good or bad about it anyway? And if you learned something why is that such a negative outcome?
We must learn to use the kind of language that opens doors of possibility. When we have to do something, we are likely to drag our feet and not give it our all, setting ourselves up for failure in the process. We can also use the same situation and say, we get to do something—even if that thing is not what we want to do now. It is difficult to unlearn what we have learned. Even the word Try is loaded. Master Yoda preached on the screen as kids, “No, try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” Fortunately, focusing on what we are saying and how we carry ourselves can change how we see the world.
Every act can be deliberate. We are so quick to cast ourselves as the role of a victim, we also forget we can choose to be something else too.