Are you killing two birds with one stone? Try something else.

Are you killing two birds with one stone?
Or are you feeding two birds with one scone?

How you use your language shapes your reality. What philosophers pointed out a long time ago, modern science is verifying now.

Did you know, for example, that people who tend to be more often depressed tend to use language slightly differently than others? E.g., they tend to speak more in absolutes, e.g., “nobody gives a damn about me” or “I always feel like s***.”

Mental Fitness Muscle Building Practice for This Week:

• Catch yourself this week whenever you use absolute language with yourself and others (e.g. always, never, everyone, nobody)
•  Notice the impact the specific phrase and words have on you and others. Is it empowering or disempowering?
• If you want to create a more empowering version both for yourself and others, ask first: “Is that really true, absolutely, 100% of the time what I am saying?” (e.g. even when I am sleeping? Even when I was just a baby? With all people who have ever lived on this planet?) If you find that no, it is not absolutely true 100% of the time, then look for other ways that you can say it that feel truer and more empowering (e.g., ok, this person didn’t say hi to me. It doesn’t mean nobody cares. And, they actually did greet me the other day.)

And remember, that just increasing your awareness of the words that you use gives you the power of choice and increases your ability to regulate your emotions, as well as increase your influence with others.