Words are Thoughts Too

This morning I read the news concerning an AirFrance plane that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. My mind immediately took me back to my last trip across the Atlantic. We had traveled 10 days prior to South Africa on a Safari of sorts and, having completed our mission, were flying home via the Isle of Cape Verdes. Just short of a hour after our departure from the Cape one of our very pleasant sounding flight attendants announced that the captain had informed her that we were having "electrical problems with the aircraft". My God! Should we begin to look for floatation devices, I wondered? I thought they were under the seat, or perhaps the seat becomes a floatation device once it has been ripped from the floor at impact.



That chilling announcement sent a ripple of verbal concern throughout the plane. Only a complete idiot could not have recognized that this aircraft was carrying approximately 300 terrified souls. Perhaps the captain had used those precise words to scare the living hell out of the flight attendants and the passengers. I can imagine a rather adolescent pilot reaching for the microphone and saying to his co-pilot, "Watch this. Flight attendant Semuskisent? Yes, would you announce to the passengers that we are having electrical problems with the aircraft?" Ms. Semuskisent may have developed a serious mood and inquired, "And just what the hell does that mean Captain Turnip?" Maybe he joked with her and said, "Just tell those publicans that the Captain has informed you that there is an electrical problem with the aircraft and watch their faces. Ha!" I don't know. But, whoever choose those words to announce what would eventually be known as a "problem with the television" could have definitely choosen better.



Words are verbalized thoughts. Thoughts are sometimes graphic designs, images with a cinematic flow. At other times, they are words that we hear with the inner ear of the mind. How may times have you said, "And just as I was about to do it, I heard my mother, dad, teacher, minister, wife, husband say..."? When our thoughts are visual images we describe what we are seeing with language. Sometimes it is difficult to find the words to express what we are visualizing in our mind. When our thoughts are words, we are "self-talking" and speech is simply a verbalization of that inner voice in the mind.

How we talk to ourselves determines our reactions to what we are experiencing. How we describe, define, explain, calculate a situation with images or words in our brain is the essence of our perceptions. These perceptions are the sum total of our life experience. Someone said, "If you aren't worried then you just don't have all the facts." In other words, "Your perception needs tweeking."

Of course, that is not necessarily true. Perceptions are unique to each individual. An opinion is a perception. A "stated opinion" is a perception that has been made known. Perceptions can be false to one degree or another, or true to one degree or another. Perceptions are like blood; different types, but everybody has some. And, they matter!



The way we choose to speak about anything or anyone reflects our thinking. Vocabulary enhances or inhibits our ability to perceive and verbalize our perceptions. When a doctor listens to an individual describe and point to her pain, he thinks in terms of his training. He has vocabulary that matches what he is seeing and hearing. He sees and hears what an untrained individual does not see or hear because he has learned anatomy, physiology, pathology, disease and the vocabulary that best reflects those disciplines.



Words are thoughts too. When we change our vocabulary, we change our life because we add to our ability to think about anything. We enhance our ability to perceive and know. Words make a difference in how we act, react, respond and feel. They also make a big difference how others at, react, respond and feel. When the flight attendant verbally informed us that the "electrical problem" was isolated to the aircraft televisions, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Our negative possibility thinking that provoked our feelings of terror gave way to more positive truth and euphoria. I thought about buying everyone on the plane a drink.

Now About That Stupid Bird

This morning was beautiful. The sun was just beginning to lighten and brighten the manicured lawn. My dogs were lying peacefully at my feet while I sat in silence drinking my first cup of coffee. My mind was filled with thoughts of gratitude and feelings of serenity.

But, there was this one bird. At first I included this little vocal creature on my gratitude list. It chirped and chirped and chirped to the point where I began to wonder if birds take breaths. The unrestrained whistles that filled the morning air soon became nothing more than a bird screaming in a nearby tree.

I became irritated at the feathered virtuoso. Soon my peaceful morning was turning into a battle between this 4 ounce resident of one tree on 54 Oak Haven and me. I shewed and shewed, tossed rocks out of the flower garden and generally worked up a good sweat trying to silence this wren that I had come to refer to as "stupid".

And, then it was over. The little thing flew away. I dropped my hand full of rocks and marched victoriously back to my comfortable chair on the porch. Silence. I refilled my coffee cup with fresh brew and settled down to enjoy the silence of the beautiful morning. Sitting in my silence I felt a strange sense of sadness.

My little feathered morning companion was gone. I had driven it away. But, my victory did not please me. I was sorry that I had behaved the way I did. I wanted the bird to come back. It did not. It was at that point in time that I realized an unpleasant pattern in my life, i.e. working hard to get circumstances and situations in my life the way I wanted them only to discover after the fact that I was not happy with my behavior or the outcome. It felt like the man who cliimbed the tall ladder of success only to discover that his ladder was against the wrong wall.

My eleven-year old grandson and I were playing a round of golf one summer morning. He was not having a very good time of hitting the ball straight. After one of his scuffs he turned to me and said, "I think it is a mental thing, Poppie!" I laughed. Many times I have worked vigurously to change my environment only to discover that the problem was more mental than enviro/mental. Situations and circumstances are nothing more than situations and circumstances until we label them one way or another, good or bad, aggravating or pleasing, right or wrong, sad or happy.

I can try to change those circumstances that I deem unpleasant. I can throw rocks at birds that I label "stupid". But, I must remember the words of my grandson, Parker. "It is a mental thing, Poppie!" Changing the situation does not necessarily change me or my moods and attitudes. I change when I change my thinking because "Thinking is Everything".