Thursday Thoughts: A Single Word …

Funny. When we were kids, many of us heard and maybe even said…

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

We believed it, right? Words were just words, and even if some hurt, we shrugged them off, certain that we could do that and not remember them again. Or feel the hurt. I mean — they were just words!

Then we grew up and learned that words do matter. Words have power. Words can help or harm. They can draw others closer or push them away.

They can set the framework for how we feel, what we think, and how we act.

I realized how powerful even a single word can be when used in a negative manner when I recently heard myself say, “Wow. It’s only 9:30!” Now those words don’t sound so bad, right? But because of what those words meant at that time, they instantly killed my momentum.

I’m sure you spotted the single word that stopped me: ONLY.

As in, “I have plenty of time left in the day to finish my to-do list, so I can play some more computer games. I can check Facebook for a few minutes (who checks FB for just a few minutes???). I can do two loads of laundry. I can … because I have all that time stretching out ahead of me to finish all my projects.”

Sad to say, it took me nearly two…