August 18, 2012

"Project 'Nice Words'"

picture borrowed from here
I came across an article today on TOWF.com .  The article entitled "Words. Just how powerful are they?" (consequently written by one of my most favorite women in the whole entire world) served as a reinforcing reminder of the project I have been working on all summer.  Remember "Project Savor"?

I've been thinking a lot about it lately, taking mental notes on my progress, and, in all honesty, wish I were doing better.  The whole point was to practice slowing down, simplifying life, and "savoring" that which is most important...my husband and children.  You know what?  It's been a lot harder than I would like to admit.

The slowing down....not so much.  This last miscarriage has worn my poor old body out and my energy levels are way down.  Blegh.  So crappy.  But it has certainly slowed me down.

Simplifying life.  Okay....I'll give myself that one.  I just don't do ANYTHING anymore.  That's pretty simple, yeah?

But the "savoring" my family.  That's been a hard one.   Do the words "school starts in 9 days, 0 hours, 5 minutes, and 35 seconds...." tell you anything.

It's not that I don't want to.  It's just so much easier to be discontent because you don't have to actually TRY.  Focusing on the good things in life, the positives, the "brighter side"....now that actually takes effort.  Most of the time I'd just rather take a nap.

I have been very hard on my kids lately.  Many a cross word, and even a few cuss words (gasp!), have been bellowed in their general direction as of late and I'm beginning to see the effect it has had on our relationships, their self-esteems and the spirit in our home.  And I don't like it.  That's why this article had such an impact on me today.
I read it, and plan to read it again and again, until it's message is so deeply implanted in my brain that I will never forget it.


So...on top of "Project Savor" I am now going to add "Project 'Nice Talk'".

You'll have to read Hilary's article to understand the idea behind this new project.  I HIGHLY encourage it.   


 forMMM
P.S. I love to hear from you! Leave a comment or e-mail me at melaniesmethodicalmusings at gmail dot com Top Mommy Blogs - Mom Blog Directory

5 comments:

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

Melanie, It's a little scary to me how powerful words are, because I am reminded of the harm my words can do if I'm not careful. You're right--it's so much easier NOT to be positive and bright and deliberate in our words. It's so much easier not to try to savor the moments and the ones we love. But what rewards we garner when we do savor, when we do make the effort to choose our words wisely. Thank you for the link to the other blog. That was an amazing experiment!

Rebecca said...

I have often thought... if I spoke to my friends or co-workers in the same way I do to my family (and to myself) - they would not want to be my friend anymore, and I'd probably be fired.

"Project Nice Words" sounds like a great and timely project - thanks for the link to an amazing article by Hillary Weeks (plus the link she had at the end of her post...wow!!).

Thinking I should join you on this quest - and also "Project Savor" (which at first glance thought it said Savior - which is somehow quite appropriate).

Unknown said...

I like project nice talk.
It is true, words can build one up or strike one down and many time I think our words injure without our even realizing it. I have some negative snippets of words in my head that were only said once to me, but I believed them for a very long time and I don't think the person that said them was intending to hurt me.
I love my children so much, they are grown now but I was a military wife so my husband was deployed alot and I was on my own with them.There were some nights I could not wait till the children's bedtime and I always felt like hanging balloons out on the mailbox when school started. :) And then when they were at school I couldn't wait till they got home. :)

Celeste said...

Oh yes. I too should read that often and ingrain it in my head. I really need to think about what I say to my kids. And how I say it ;)

Christy said...

Thanks for posting this, and for passing Hilary's link along. Such a powerful statement to the importance of the words we choose. I think we underestimate the importance of being kind and loving toward ourselves, too. Eleanor Roosevelt said that unless we can be friends with ourselves, we cannot be friends with anyone else. I've found that to be really true in my life; the times that I heap negativity and abuse on others are the times I'm most unhappy with myself. It would be an interesting experiment to see how much positive self-talk would spill over onto the people in our lives. Thanks for the thought provoking post!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...