Sticks and stones may break my bones..

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but calling never hurt me!"
So goes the old school ground chant but IS IT TRUE!!!
It appears not. Words are sound vibrations and there have been studies that show these vibrations can have an effect on the molecular structure of water.
The work of a Japanese researcher and healer Masaru Emoto reveals to us the power of the spoken word. According to his research when water was subjected to positive words such as "I love you" or "Thank you" it showed a different molecular structure than water that had been treated with negative words such as "You fool" or "I hate you."
The water molecules that had received positive words displayed a structure of beautiful hexagonal crystals whereas the water that had received negative words did not form crystals at all but rather showed messy, fragmented structures.
As the human body is composed of between 60 - 80% water it is reasonable to assume that our molecular structure will be greatly affected too by the words that we hear and even words that we think, as thoughts too have their own vibrations.Walk into any room that has just witnessed an argument and you can literally FEEL the vibes. Words, it seems, leave an imprint behind them.

Casting my mind back to my childhood I can see how this relates to me.  I remember once on holiday a lady was singing songs with a group of children. She was making up rhymes to go with the children's names. When it was my turn she sang, "Janet, Janet who thought she could but cannot" and when everyone laughed it was like a knife in my back. I carried the imprint of that remark long into my adult world struggling for a long time with a lack of belief in my own ability. I literally took on a 'can't do' attitude that was hard to shift and was the cause of many on going problems for me.

Of course as children we lack the cognitive ability of adults and therefore are unable to reason and think things through the way an adult would. If I had heard this remark as an adult I might have been able to shrug my shoulders and pass it off without it affecting me as strongly as it did. However  I have a sneaking suspicion that many of us pass off similar remarks in our every day life but that this passing off is often just surface deep and can mask a hurt that has still lodged itself somewhere deeper within our bodies or minds.

Are we willing to take the chance that our often casual, off the cuff remarks won't cause pain of some kind to the people that hear them? Or are we willing to believe that our words do have the power to harm or heal and therefore consciously take on the task of trying to speak more considerately and kindly to each other?

I am not talking here about slick remarks or false flattery. Our words should be genuine and authentic and we need to be aware that the intent behind our words carries as much power as the words themselves. However surely it is not beyond us to find ways to speak our truth that don't involve inflicting pain on others?

I leave you with this:

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

T is it TRUE
H is it HELPFUL
I is it INSPIRING
N is it NECESSARY
K is it KIND

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