It’s Just a Harmless Saying… Right?

Do you have a saying you tend to say a lot?

Have you ever really looked at that saying? Is the intention of that saying serving you?

I used to have one and I thought it was pretty positive, but turns out it was actually attracting not the greatest things to me.

Mine was “It could be worse.” That sounds innocuous enough. I mean, I am trying to look on the bright side, right? I am looking at the glass more full because less full would be worse. See my logic?

Then one day I am showing off my super saying skill to my life coach. Lo and behold she had to shatter my bubble.

Now to understand this stance, you need to know that I am a believer in the Law of Attraction. In a nutshell (hey – now there’s a funny saying!), like attracts like. Everything is energy, even thoughts. The things you think about you will attract. Think good thoughts and more good comes your way. Think bad thoughts and well, more bad things make their way into your life.

A classic example is you get up late, you stub your toe on the corner of the bed, there’s no hot water for your shower, you run out of toothpaste to brush your teeth, you spill coffee on your white shirt as you are heading out the door, you get stuck in a traffic jam, and so on.

We have all had mornings like this. And what is our usual summation? Yep! We ask ourselves in frustration: Can things get any worse?

And what happens? Things get worse!

As my life coach brought my attention to my saying – which by now was sunk deeply into my subconscious, I was shocked. We took a long hard look at it.

See, our subconscious mind is completely objective. It does not filter good things in and bad things out. It just receives. Then it operates on what it has received. The more ingrained a thought, the less obvious the subconscious brings about results.

Here’s another example: Have you found yourself always chasing money? There’s always more week left after the paycheck ends. When I talk with folks who believe that they’ll never have enough money and they are destined to live paycheck to paycheck they have some things really ingrained in their subconscious. It could be that they always heard their grandparent say “We’re not the Rockefellers. We can’t afford that.” And then their parent says “We’re not made of money.” with a scoff. These statements said seemingly in passing make their way into our subconscious, especially if it is something we hear again and again. Then without realizing it, they manifest into results via our subconscious beliefs.

So as I kept saying “It could be worse” my subconscious was only doing its job – following the command I put in there. And I continued to struggle.

As I reprogrammed the thoughts and sayings I put in my subconscious, my results changed.

The thing to note here is that it had become natural for me to say “It could be worse.” I did it without even thinking about it. And each time I am adding weight to that thought in my subconscious.

So I encourage you to take some time and think about sayings you use all the time. Are you hearing things like “It could be worse”, or “Not bad”, or “I’m not made of money.”?

Here are some tips for turning the ship around with sayings that do not serve you:

• Take some time and really look at your sayings. (You may need to have a trusted friend help you with this because soon we don’t even realize we say our sayings. So you may need their assistance to identify your sayings.)
• Is there a positive alternative? Instead of “It could be worse” I now say “Things are awesome!” Instead of “Not bad” how about “Things a great!”, or instead of “I’m not made of money” replace that with “I’m choosing to save my money for something amazing.”
• Write these more positive sayings down on a card and carry them around with you. Set a reminder on your smartphone or calendar to review these sayings a couple to a few times a day. Remember you have been most likely programming your subconscious for many a moon with the less than stellar sayings. It will take some time and effort to reprogram your subconscious.
• If you wonder if your saying is really all that bad reply to yourself with “If you say so.” Is the saying still a good positive fit? So for example if we take “Things could be worse.” Now say “If you say so” to yourself. How do you feel? Yikes, right? I don’t want things to be worse! That is a clue that the saying may need some tweaking to be more positive.

So what sayings do you always tell yourself and others? Do they serve you? If not, what is a more positive version? Let me know in the comments below!

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Just include this complete statement with the content: A. Lynn Jesus, CEO and Purpose Expert with Thriveology, is dedicated to helping people discover their purpose and live life on their terms. Are you ready to get started? Get her FREE guidebook 5 Steps to Begin Defining Your Journey.