Watch your words: their impact is bigger than you may think

How do you get into a better mood? How long do you allow yourself to feel negative? Did you know that you can influence the duration of your frustration? If you do not want to wallow in negative emotions for a long time, I will give you some tips on how you can improve your mood.

It can happen that as we get older, the range of emotions with which we are able to describe our feelings narrows rapidly. See for yourself – we are angry, happy, tired, energetic, impatient, excited, bored, and dissatisfied. We hear these expressions all around us. In a situation when we feel blue, we might want to tell others. What if we complained about it to everyone? We have managed to get our frustration out; do we feel better now? We “offloaded” our problem onto others and now it no longer seems as big as before. This is one way of coping with our negative feelings and feeling better.

But I would like to share with you some ways to improve your mood without the need to be surrounded by listeners.

1. Listen to yourself. How do you speak to yourself? Do you use strong words of fear, envy, revenge, or anger? Or do you blame others for your worries or self-doubt? Speaking to yourself like this can lead to feelings of disappointment, which if they last too long, could be a source of pessimism. On the contrary, how would you begin a sentence if you were happy, hopeful, optimistic?
2. Say it differently. Try to replace words such as: “It’s not worth it…” or “I’m angry, when…” with alternatives like: “I don’t like to feel this way, because…” or “I don’t deserve this! I don’t know what to do…”
3. Admit what and how you really feel. Describe it. By doing so, you will be able to distance yourself from the situation, and this will help you protect yourself. You will be able to use other, better words that will not hurt you as much and will make you feel better.

Words carry energy! And sometimes it’s a good idea to think more about them before we say them out loud. When you think about yourself now, what words do you use the most?