Words Have the Power to Shape and Change Us, You Decide Their Power
When I thought about my favorite quote in response to this week’s prompt I was hit by a deluge of words that I have collected and savored over the decades. I’ve kept various quote notebooks over the years and flipping through the pages of my most recent one I came across this.
‘Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.’
Paulo Coelho
This sentence speaks to me of two things… the power of words when spoken with conviction, and the power of the elusive, sought after, and overwhelming sensation that is love.
Words, as they sit alone and waiting to be used, are flat and lifeless things. Little ghosts holding on to the energy of past usage, yet full of potential energy.
When people speak to us we allow their words to have such huge meaning for us, shaping our ideas of self and identity, setting boundaries of belief, and influencing every aspect of our lives. We allow meaning to be created outside of ourselves and accept it as truth when it is usually nothing more than opinion.
What if we chose our own meanings? If we could weigh and measure the opinions of others, releasing the majority as feathers brushing past and only lending weight to those which resonate to what we know to be…
