(Based on
an idea by Michael Frayn featured in The original Michael Frayn The Salamander
Press 1983)
(Some uni
lecturers at Granada University used to pronounce ”swords” and “words”as
homophonous( the same way) in the 1970´s. What great masters we had!…)
See in this
same blog 102: Change your words to change your world or 146: The secret life
of words.
Words can
be used as swords to wound both superficially and deeply. As the Spanish proverb
goes:” It can burn hotter than a gypsy´s words. You can be more hurtful than
the words of a gypsy.”
So, be very
careful with the words you choose: they can be harmful if poorly chosen,
patronizing, derogatory, laudatory, vague or even explosive (They can be real dynamite)…”
Just say beautiful things and you will be a beautiful person.” One of Buddha´s
life-changing quotes states: Think good thoughts, say nice words, do good for
others as everything comes back (Karma). Remember each and every one of us is still
healing from things they don´t talk about, so be kind. Use positive words,
create your own healing vocabulary from A-Z:
Ex:
Awakened
alertness
Breathed in
bravery
Confident
courage
Delicious
dreams
Friendly
faith fine
Healing
hope
Joyful Joy
Love
laughter
Mindfulness
music
New
nourishment
Open Optimism
Perfumed
peace
Regal
rejoycing
Special
strength smile
Tidy Trust
Unity Up
Visual
Vitamins
Wonderful
world
MAKE EVERY
ADJECTIVE A GLADJECTIVE: Ex: nice, beautiful, fine, gorgeous, awesome, …
MAKE EVERY
ADVERB A GLADVERB: Ex: happily, wonderfully, extraordinarily, funnily …
TURN EVERY
VERB INTO A GLAD-VERB: (List 5 verbs)
TURN EVERY
NOUN INTO A GLAD-NOUN: (List 5 nouns)
Can words kill people?
If you
could kill a word what word would you kill?
Ex: die;
dead; death; darkness, envy, enemy, misery, mediocrity, trouble, conflict,
stress, worries, pain, fear, lies, hate, traitor, Satan, war, Greed, anger, toxic,
poison, doom and gloom, etc..
The power
of words is such that psychologists use several intense tests to reflect it. In
one of them you are asked to write on a piece of paper the name of someone very
dear to you.
Once you
have written the name of that beloved person, folded and kept it, the tester
tells you: “The person whose name you have written is going to die a horrible
death”. (Sighs… shock.. disbelief…)
When we
were at boarding school the head told us that if we tried those strawberries we
would perish in terrible circumstances. (The same biblical story of the
forbidden fruit) When we were travelling by train we drank train water which
said non-drinkable; since we were very thirsty, first we drank and then
realized our mistake expecting nausea, vomit, and the worst…
Some
people´s lives are determined by powerful words such as: productivity, hatred,
running, hunting, Spain; or “sacred” words such as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha,
Moses, etc..
Write five
more examples of words which can determine a person´s life.
A reminder
that there's one word in the English language that can be a noun, verb, adjective,
adverb and preposition. It is in the list above. Which one is it?
By way of
curiosity these words are synonymous with which English adjective?:
Amusing, comical, droll, excentric, funny,
mischievious, odd, unusual, weird, arbitrary, capricious, chancy,
chimerical,curious, dicey, erratic, fantastic, flaky, freakish, kinky,peculiar,
quaint, queer, quizzical, singular, uncertain, unpredictable, waggish, wayward!
(Thanks, Norma)
Happiness is a noun but it should be a verb.
Can you think of similar words and ideas?
