Just the other day I was speaking with a friend who told me that she is worried that her boss thinks she is “lazy.” I asked her why she feels this way and she said, “maybe it’s because I have been jokingly telling him that for the past few months.”

This got me thinking…do people realize how powerful our words are? Not only what we say out loud to others but also what we say to ourselves in the privacy of our own thought process?

I know this seems basic but after this conversation I tried to be more mindful of what I was saying, not only to others, but also of my inner monologue. I noticed things that surprised me. I noticed that I often tease myself around others to help them to feel more comfortable but now am wondering how that is impacting me? Statements like, “don’t worry about getting a bad grade, I had bad grades in high school,” may not mean much in the grand scheme of things but if I say little things like this all day, it has an impact. I may start to believe that I am not as smart as I once was, when in fact I actually did fine throughout my schooling. If I say, “that was dumb of me,” how many times do I have to say that before I think that I am not enough?

The reason that I wanted to write about this is to help people take a moment to really think about the impact that our words can have. If we decide each morning that we are not going to put ourselves down, but lift ourselves up, how wonderful could that be? If I start each morning with a compliment to myself and a simple “today is going to be a good day,” think of the influence it could have.

So now I turn to you. Say something nice to yourself today. Be mindful of how your words affect others and yourself and exercise the power of positive thinking. Why not, right?

- Anna Desai, Founder of Edelweiss Behavioral Health