Words are important messengers of both comfort and combat. Words can energize. And they can numb; they can create robots and zombies. They are a tremendous tool or they can make you a fool. Are you a fool for words?
Don't Self-Help Yourself to Sleep
In his book Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing [newer edition], Mark Levy gives us an effective filter for the many words that enter our senses each day. This filter gives us a fresh way of seeing our world, as well as a dose of critical thinking.
Levy talks about “opening up words.” If we are under the spell of unexamined and lulling, lullaby words, the process of opening up words wakes us.
As an example of what Levy means, let’s apply his method to one genre of information. Many of us read motivational and inspirational literature and listen to gurus of self-help and incentive. What do their words really mean? Much of the motivational and inspirational vocabulary is becoming trite and tired.
We can learn how to freshen the words up or throw out the stale bread. If the words are just stale bread, they may be getting moldy and may be molding you into a sleepwalker.
The Inner Recesses of Your Expression
Levy says:
When you open up a word, you re-define that word so it has personal meaning. You become an explorer within the word, forsaking the sleepy meaning others have given it, and discover for yourself if the concepts embedded within it are still valid.
He gives the example of the word “empowerment.” How many times do you read and hear that word? Are you giving it a “sleepy meaning” and thinking, “Oh yeah, that’s a great word. Give me more of that” without ever looking inside the word to see what, if anything, it means to YOU.
Levy suggests a four-step process to examine words and see if they fit for us.
First, pick the word or phrase you want to dissect for
personal meaning. Empowerment is a good one but many others are uncritically presented each day as what Levy calls “goodness incarnate.” Here’s a collection of examples seen in the last week: mastery, affirm, passion, goal setting, attract, peace, manifest, inspiration, transform, joy, abundance, life purpose, awareness, collaboration, fulfillment, energy, creativity, freedom, power.
Second, seek the common definition of the word. You may go to the dictionary or try to discern what people are thinking when they use or read it. Levy suggests including “the most overused, lifeless connotations.”
Drilling Deeper
Third, “Ask yourself if you agree, or disagree, with the common definition.” Explain how YOU respond to the word. What does it mean to you after discriminating and careful thought? Does it mean anything?
Finally, ask yourself how you will respond to the word now that you have opened it up for yourself -- not just “slogging through people’s dead language.”
The motivational/inspirational genre has many valuable, important messages -- if you are listening and reading with personal, freshened-up definitions. Otherwise, the books and tapes and ezines and talks can be a series of “sleepy meanings.” Yawn. Zzzzz.
And Today . . .
Open up at least five words today. Rip them open and reach inside for their beating hearts, their bones, and their lifeblood. If any have meaning for you, keep them and let them give you a new perception, a heightened degree of sensitivity. If any are meaningless for you today, throw them aside for now and do not be hypnotized by them.
One good way to open a word is to write the four steps above. Write about them in a particular way. Peter Elbow calls this way "freewriting." Natalie Goldberg calls her method “timed writing.” Julia Cameron calls hers "morning pages." Mark Levy calls his process "private writing."
Choose a certain amount of time and write about the word until the time is up. Even a five-minute period is useful. Set an alarm for your word-opening exercise. Keep writing the whole time even when you think you have run out of the things to say.
Soon the critic settles down and you may see some astounding truth flowing forth from your pen or keyboard. You will most likely see exactly what that word you are opening means to you.
Applying this process to five words will be revealing. You almost certainly will be surprised at what you learn. You positively will become a choosier user of words. That alarm will wake you up.
©Copyright 2003 Stephanie West Allen
Other Lighter Wisdom posts. Scroll down to see them all.
Note: A newer edition of Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content was published in 2010.
Image credit: ginger_rigby at Photobucket
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