Have you ever noticed that if you ask for Patience that the Universe somehow throws a whole lot of impatience triggering events your way?
Paradoxical maybe, but it really does seem to be the way we humans learn patience.
I think there is a tremendous amount of power in the words we use – in our interactions with each other for sure, but also even in our own heads and hearts. After all, the Universe doesn’t stop listening just because we didn’t say something out loud!
Many of us choose our words carefully in a variety of ways. Maybe we work hard to make sure our words are not hurtful to any person anywhere – which can be harder than one might think! Maybe we saw someone else being successful with words of a certain tone, so we emulate them. Maybe we check the resonant numerological value of a word before we integrate it into our world.
But something I saw today brought up an even more important reason to choose our words carefully.
What we ask the Universe for, and what we put out into the Universe, always comes back to us. Even if it is “just words”.
What I saw was this Facebook post by my friend Stephanie Cornett
“When you say to the Universe, “I am a warrior”, the Universe responds with an “Oh yeah, fight THIS”.”
Just imagine – you’ve finally built up your courage to move forward, to challenge whatever comes your way, to stand your ground. And what comes your way are more challenges and battles and difficult situations you need to overcome.
Battling those situations won’t overcome them.
Only love can do that.
Personally, I’ve never liked conflict, and I’m really ready for more ease and peace in my world. Inviting difficulties in seems entirely counter productive to me.
What I loved about seeing Stephanie’s message is how it helped me to understand something I’ve come to notice in myself.
I react negatively to conflict words.
Her message helped me understand why.
Conflict words invite conflict.
Even if they are paired with heart-centered words, they still carry their original essence of conflict.
And there seems to be a trend now to bring conflict words into our spiritual practices.
Words like bomb, warrior and challenge don’t belong with my experiences of spirituality, truth, or love. Do they fit with yours?
My spiritual journey, my self-empowerment, my wellness are all about feeling my connection to the Divine. There’s no place in that connection for conflict.
There’s only room for love.
Sure, these are catchy phrases that grab attention. I get that. There just has to be a less violent way to share love, truth and the spiritual journey.
I want you to know that if I decide to participate in your “challenge”, I’ve already changed the word “challenge” in my head to “festival” “extravaganza” or “party”. And if I want to surprise you with a moment of unexpected love, I’ll just send it to you – without the hashtag thankyouverymuch.
And butterflies make terrible warriors.
In my world, it’s all about love and beauty. Even the shadows, even the sad, even the scary.
We can’t use conflict to remove conflict.
Only love can do that.
So let’s see if we can shift to gentler language. Maybe we could Bloom Love, Illuminate with Love, Speak Gently and Lift Others. I know many of us already do these things, let’s celebrate that with words that lift!
Because love can do that!
You already know I have a different opinion on this. In fact, I see challenges AS love. Instead of trying to fit it all in a comment, I wrote a response blog post called, “Using Challenges as Love.”