The Power of Words

How Language Shapes Your Brain and Beliefs

Part 3 of a Series on the Unconscious Mind

The words you use have a direct impact on your brain.

If you say, “I feel so depressed!” or “I’m so anxious!” or “Why can’t I get this done??” your brain is going to give you depressed, anxious, or limiting beliefs that get in your way.

As a verbal processor, talking about my problems gave me temporary relief, but in the end, it didn’t lead to lasting change.

I kept going back to my old ways, feeling frustrated with the lack of real transformation. Everything I was saying, my brain was listening to and encoding it as learning.

→ The true result of speaking about the problems is actually reinforcing the negative response patterns in the unconscious mind, giving the brain verbal instructions to do the opposite of what is no longer wanted.

The more we focus on, the more we do.

But wait …

🤔 If the brain does what we tell it, then wouldn’t it be simple enough to speak positive affirmations to create positivity within us and never have to be concerned about our mind’s language?

Yes and no, it’s not that simple.

The fact is, positive affirmations work best for those with high self-esteem.

☹️ However, they tend to have a negative effect on people with low self-esteem. (see study here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02370.x

That means that repetition of positive statements when you already feel good about yourself are wonderful.

☹️ ☹️ However, if you’re among the 85% of the world’s population with low-self-esteem, you’re likely going to feed the negative bias of your unconscious mind.

Survival Instinct

Our brains have a survival-driven tendency to gravitate toward the negative, reinforcing self-doubt and disregarding contradictory information.

This phenomenon is known as confirmation bias.

Because of the confirmation bias, when we hear affirmations or inner beliefs that suggest we’re not good enough, our minds tend to latch onto those thoughts and find faults within ourselves.

We are hard-wired to resist change because to the brain change is interpreted as threatening and puts into action the fight, flight, fear response.

In essence, our words shape our thoughts and beliefs, impacting our brains directly. This is why it’s so important to learn your brain’s language and how to more effectively communicate with it.

Throughout this blog series, I’ll go further into the science of the brain and how the language of the senses — see/hear/feel — impacts how the brain responds to everything we experience. Having this knowledge will equip you to make those deep changes you want for your life. DOWNLOAD WORKBOOK

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Head to Part 4 of the series on the unconscious mind, Understanding the Limbic System and Our Sensory Experiences