The first words anyone spoke to me today were good morning and thank you. I was at the gas station grabbing my convenience store poisons, and I held the door for an older woman with the biggest smile, and four simple words from her made my whole day better before it had really even started.
Four Words Changed the Direction of My Day
There was real energy to it. Something tangible, almost visible in the air between us. Good morning. It had a warmth and a sweet aftertaste that stuck with me for hours. Just a kind greeting from an elderly neighbor walking into the AM PM changed the direction of my entire day. So I am going to pay it forward and pass that same simple love to everyone I meet today. I am going to have a good day, in spite of my troubles. And what is going to make it good is my words, what I choose to say to myself and to other people.
I've Watched Words Build and Destroy
I have watched ten, twenty, and thirty year marriages fall apart over words. That is both tragic and avoidable, which is what makes it so painful to sit across from in my office. I have also said terrible things I am not proud of, and that only deepens my conviction. Words bring things to life, for good or for evil. We can speak what we want into our reality, or we can helplessly watch misfortune pile up while we keep getting back a double measure of whatever we keep saying.
So say what you will. Say what you want. That is actually what the old phrase means, because the word will so often simply means want. Our words are far more powerful than we imagine, both the ones we aim outward and the ones we mutter to ourselves when no one else is listening.
So what are you saying to yourself, about the world and about you? What are you saying to others, to your wife, your kids, the stranger holding the door? It will make or break your day. And over time, repeated a thousand times, it will quietly make or break your life. What you say is what you will get. Good morning.