The Power of Language

While I was training with Sasaki Sensei, a Shinto priest, he often spoke of the power of language. He said have you ever noticed how people in prison communicate? They are often guttural, vulgar, abrasive, mean, and violent. If you look at those that are educated or in high society, their language is very precise, prim and proper. It is almost as if their language creates their reality or environment.

This idea is the basis for neuro linguistic programming (NLP), Tony Robbin’s Neuro-Associative Conditioning, self-talk, as well as affirmations. Dr. John F. Demartini speaks about Paul Bragg who gave him an affirmation, when he was 17 years old. He was told to say, “I am a genius, and I apply my wisdom.” He has said it every day for over 30 years, and he claims it to be the source of his success. Today, if you read his books, such as How to Make a Hell of a Profit, and Still Get to Heaven, you will find tons of affirmations throughout.

This self-talk is inherit to our minds as human beings. They say that we have anywhere from 12,000 to over 50,000 individual thoughts on any given day. The question is, how do we talk to ourselves. What is our most dominant thought? What thought gets repeated over and over, training our brain and our instincts?