From the story below, we can understand the power of words. Not only do specific words affect our mental pictures, but words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success.
The Boy and the Tree
Once there was a boy who was eight years old. As a kid, he was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of his lake house. So, it came as no surprise for his dad to find him at the top of a 30-foot tree, swinging back and forth. His little eight-year-old brain didn’t realize the tree could break or he could get hurt. He just thought it was fun to be up so high.
The Fall of Tammy
His older cousin, Tammy, was also on the same tree. She was hanging on the first big limb, about ten feet below him. Tammy’s mother also noticed them at the exact time his dad did. About that time, a huge gust of wind came over the tree. The boy could hear the leaves start to rattle and the tree begin to sway. He could hear the voice of his father over the wind yell, “Bart, hold on tightly.” So, he did.
The next thing he heard was Tammy screaming at the top of her lungs, laying flat on the ground. She had fallen out of the tree.
Understanding the Difference
The boy scampered down the tree to safety. His father later told him why she fell and he did not. Apparently, when Tammy’s mother felt the gust of wind, she yelled out, “Tammy, don’t fall!” And Tammy did fall.
The boy’s father then explained to him that the mind has a very difficult time processing a negative image. In fact, people who rely on internal pictures cannot see a negative at all. In order for Tammy to process the command of not falling, her nine-year-old brain had to first imagine falling, then try to tell the brain not to do what it just imagined. Whereas, the boy’s eight-year-old brain instantly had an internal image of him hanging on tightly.
Application of the Concept
This concept is especially useful when you are attempting to break a habit or set a goal. You can’t visualize not doing something.
The Football Example
Another example is of a boy who was thirteen years old and played for his junior high school football team. He tried so hard to be good, but he just couldn’t get it together at that age. He remembered hearing the words run through his head as he was running out for a pass, “Don’t drop it!” Naturally, he dropped the ball.
Examples of Toxic and Better Language
- Toxic phrase: “Don’t drop the ball!”
- Likely result: Drops the ball
- Better language: “Catch the ball!”
- Toxic phrase: “You shouldn’t watch so much television.”
- Likely result: Watches more television.
- Better language: “I read too much television makes people stupid. You might find yourself turning that TV off and picking up one of those books more often!”
Lessons Learned
By the above examples, we need to understand two things:
- Power of Words (Chanting): We need positive engagements to get rid of negative habits in our lives. We need to hold on to the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra so that the wind of Maya may not drop us down from the tree of the material world.
- Develop Positive Habits: We should not try to give up bad things but instead accept good things, and the bad will automatically go away. Even if we have unlimited bad habits and impressions, if we try to give them up, we will never succeed, as we will always be contemplating the habits, keeping us bound to them. So we have to be positive and accept the cleansing process of chanting the Mahamantra given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and be in the association of devotees, which will automatically remove the unwanted attachments from our hearts.
Scriptural Support
S.B 1.2.18
nashta-prayeshv abhadreshu
nityam bhagavata-sevaya
bhagavaty uttama-sloke
bhaktir bhavati naishthiki
By regular attendance in classes on the Bhagavatam and by rendering service to the pure devotee, all that is troublesome to the heart is almost completely destroyed, and loving service unto the Personality of Godhead, who is praised with transcendental songs, is established as an irrevocable fact.
PS: I humbly request all the devotees to please forward moral/instructive stories they hear so that everyone can be benefited.
