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Over a slight matter there was a difference of opinion. It led to a hot discussion between me and one whom I hold in high esteem. The pitch of our voices kept on rising. I felt, I was right; he felt, he was right. Out of a conflict of right with right cometh tragedy. And after some minutes of wordy exchange, as we took leave of each other, my friend felt miserable and I felt unhappy.

Just then someone spoke to me with the simple frankness of a happy child. And though she spoke out of the tenderness of her heart, every word she uttered was a whip. “You write such beautiful things” she said to me, “and in your conversation with friends and others you give expression to such wondrous things of the Spirit. How often have you not urged that compassion is the secret of true life? And yet, as you spoke now to a brother, you became loveless! The tone of your voice was as the hissing of a snake and your words burnt as live coal!”

“How true.” I said to myself. And in sheer shame, I hung low my head.

In silence I asked myself, “Why did I use harsh words? Why?” And the answer came, “Because my life is not yet rooted in love. The roots of my life are elsewhere. Let me take care of my roots. Life is the root, words are as flowers and action is the fruit. If we are not rooted in love, our words go wild and our work more often than not becomes a curse.”

That night I kept awake. I sat in my quiet room, shedding unbidden tears of repentance. And then, methinks, I heard a voice say:

“My child, weep not, nor be disheartened. But pray for light and for strength to walk whither the light may lead!” And I said, “You know the burden that sits heavy on my heart. Tell me what I may do?”

And the Voice said, “My child, Let silence be the law of your life; for silence hurts no one. And when you feel like breaking your silence, ask yourself if what you have to say is something better than silence. If so, say it, else remain silent.”

I felt like asking a question. But before I opened my lips, I said to myself, “Surely, my question is not better than silence, so let me be silent!”

The Voice continued, “If only we could collect the words each one of us speaks, what a huge mountain they would make! Himalayas of words have passed through these tiny lips. And all these words, as it seems to me, come under five categories.

The five categories of words

1. Words inspired by love of God

These are the words we utter in adoration of the Eternal – the cry of the soul to the Over soul, the songs sung in praise of the Most High, prayer, kirtan and jap of the Sacred Name.

2. Words inspired by love of fellow-men

These are the words of comfort and consolation we pass on to those who suffer and struggle and are in sorrow-words which cheer them on life’s lonesome way.

3. Words which wound and hurt and kill

These are the words inspired by jealousy, envy, anger, malice or hatred. How often do we not speak ill of others, little knowing what havoc we cause! An archer shoots to kill. More dangerous is the man with a forked tongue. Every time he opens his lips, he sends forth shafts which strike and sting.

4. Words inspired by selfishness

These are the words prompted by egoism, by greed and sensuality. How often do we not ‘brag’ about our so called ‘achievements’ or speak in self-righteous pride! And see, how happy men feel when they indulge in obscene and sensual talk. And when it comes to making a little material gain, humans have no hesitation in speaking a lie. They gain a little and lose their all.

5. Idle words

These are the words men utter without a reason, merely to while away their time. The conversations of men are filled with silly questions and imbecile answers, which make our homes centers of idle gossip and our clubs and meeting-places so many towers of Babel. Against this type of talk did Jesus warn, when he said, “But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof, on the day of judgement.”

I listened in rapt attention. And the Voice continued: “When you purchase an earthen-vessel, you strike it and from the sound make out if it is cracked or not. So, too, is the integrity of man proved by his speech. If the words a man utters belong to the first two classes, verily, is he blessed among mortals. Such a person spreads sunshine wherever he goes!”

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• What are switchwords
• How to use switchwords in everyday life
  1. Negate bad thoughts
  2. Find, retrieve or memorize things
  3. Get out of jams or lose bad habits
• Making a switchword sentence
• How to combine multiple switchwords
• Table: A list of useful switchwords for love, health and work

What are switchwords

James T Mangan dedicated his life to understanding the power of individual words. In his book, The Secret of Perfect Living, published in the 1960s, he coined the term switchwords. Switchwords work because they bypass the conscious thinking minds and reach out to our subconscious minds. They are words that, like switches, help us turn off the blocks in our subconscious and turn on our hidden potential.

Amazingly, these are simple words we use in our day to day lives. However, when we use them with a focused intention, they start creating magic. To categorize them as a manifestation tool, however, is to sell them short. Switchwords are an amazing clearing and cleansing tool.

How to use switchwords in everyday life

You can use switchwords for good health, money, love, weight loss or any other intention you may have. Let’s look at three examples of how switchwords can help you in your everyday life.

1. Negate bad thoughts

I was taught switchwords and how to apply them in a happiness class. Of all the switchwords, the one that particularly caught my fascination was “Cancel”. Every thought carries energy. Using the word ‘Cancel’ clears the energy behind a negative thought. It can therefore prevent a negative intention from manifesting. So for a week I experimented. Every time I had a negative thought, I cancelled it by repeating, “Cancel, Cancel,” in my head a couple of times. Sometimes I even put a red cross across it in my mind.

For almost a week after I began, I found that I was cancelling every other thought. One morning as I woke up, I had the first thought pop into my head: Cancel. It was truly a moment of elation for me. I started experiencing a mind free of negative thoughts. I became aware that the mind is not the content, but rather the stream of awareness where thoughts come and go.

2. Find, retrieve or memorize things

Soon afterwards, I started experimenting with other switchwords. “Reach” a word which is used to find something or solve a problem, became my next favorite word. I couple it with the word “Divine” which means to work miracles. After all if you have lost something, it feels like a miracle when it shows up. I had the habit of misplacing my keys all the time, so “Reach Divine” was a real life saver. Additionally, this phrase can also be used to help you recall or retrieve. During a job interview, I used “Reach Divine” to memorize my technical fundamentals that I had forgotten to brush up and it worked. It is not only recalling, but also memorizing that you need on occasions like a job interview. “Care” helps you to memorize and retain information. I repeated the phrase “Care Divine” after studying a module for an interview. Sure enough, I remembered things a lot faster.

3. Get out of jams or lose bad habits

So much of our life is spent in traffic jams, especially if we live in metro cities. Chanting ‘Divine Order Now’ clears traffic and helps you get out of jams. Adding ‘Halfway’ to this mantra can make a distance seem short. Another handy switchword that my mother used for a long time was ‘Off’, which is used for sleeping or quitting an unwanted habit. She often chanted ‘Off Divine’ before sleeping and started falling asleep faster and better. An acquaintance of mine also used ‘Off Divine’ every time he smoked or had the urge to smoke to help him get rid of his habit.

Chanting ‘Divine Order Now’ clears traffic and helps you get out of jams

Making a switchword sentence

The trick to using switchwords is that the more playfully you apply them, the easier it is to see results. Moreover, there is even a template that allows you to combine different switchwords to help you affirm what you need. It reads something like…

“Bring Together With Divine Love <put your choice of switchword here> Now Done Thanks”.

For example, to manifest your heart’s desires, you may use the switchwords “Find Charm”. You can use these words in the template like this: Bring Together With Divine Love Find Charm Now Done Thanks!

How to combine multiple switchwords

• Don’t crowd all the switchwords into the same phrase or sentence. For example, use one phrase for health, another for prosperity, another for self-esteem and so on. Break down different areas of your life and apply switchwords to them
• Make sure you are not using conflicting switchwords. For example, if you are looking to get publicity—for which you use “Ridiculous”, and at the same time use “Cut”, which is used for moderation or cutting down, the end result may not be as effective as using ‘Ridiculous’ and a word like “Hole”, which means to appear attractive.
• I have found that using maximum four switchwords for one purpose works well, especially if you put these in the above template.

Have fun while you play with switchwords and experientially understand their essence.

This was first published in the October 2015 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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Often the word “cool” is used to remain in trend with the lingo used by their peer group. Even adults are seen using this word so often.

Have you ever wondered that the word’s actual meaning—of being calm and in control—is being camouflaged by a nonchalant response, when individuals might be actually suffering inside? Often, it is also used as a response to shrug off a conversation that one might not be interested in or even used as a defence to ward off a conversation that one does not want to engage in any further.

Your children are listening to your words

I saw a 10-year-old boy getting extremely angry and shouting at his classmate to stop pelting stones up in the air to a flying bird. The parent tried to calm down his son telling him, “Cool it baby. Don’t get angry.” His child was justifiably angry to watch the bird getting hurt. The parent’s correct response would have been something like, “I can understand why you are so angry. Let’s hope the stone did not hit the bird”, and further take some steps to stop his classmate from injuring anyone else. Such a response validates the child’s reaction [of objecting if he sees anyone being hit], whereas the response of asking him to be cool would make him feel that he is overreacting to the act he just witnessed. Helping his son regain his composure is important, but not at the expense of discounting his initial spontaneous response.

Expanding our emotional vocabulary is essential to improve our physical, emotional and mental levels of functioning

Take another example: When a child is able to stand up to the bully in her class and her parent says: “That was really brave of you”,  instead of “That was really cool.” The first statement is more authentic and will make the child become more aware of her inner strength.

Expressing emotions is therapeutic

Expanding our emotional vocabulary is essential to improve our physical, emotional and mental levels of functioning. Individuals with high emotional intelligence can come up with the most accurate word to describe their feelings and thus have more clarity as to what needs to be done next.

During one of her counselling sessions with me, a 30-year-old woman felt a surge of relief when she was finally able to voice her feelings over the break up of her eight year long relationship. “Today I feel real. I feel myself, as I was able to voice out what I actually feel. I feel very angry with my boyfriend. I am grieving inside. I can see my truth and I no longer feel ashamed. Life is real, it’s not just about being cool. It’s about coming in touch with oneself and rebuilding life, however painful it might be. Previously I would be hiding my feelings and telling my friends and colleagues that I am cool and that what has happened does not matter too much. Now I know I must accept reality and deal with my loss.”

There is no harm in taking shelter of the common “lingo”, provided it serves as a momentary respite to eventually leap out of our surreal cocoons and acknowledge reality. However, the need to identify and label the emotions that we are experiencing correctly is a skill that we must all develop to achieve greater emotional maturity and insight into ourselves.

The habitual vocabulary used for describing our state of mind deprives us from constructively changing how we feel emotionally about an experience

Beware of your habitual vocabulary

We all know that suppressed emotions can lead to the formation of many psychosomatic illnesses such as stomach disorders, migraines, skin problems, lethargy, muscle stiffness and many more. Therefore frequent usage of the phrase “I am cool”, although initially harmless, can reinforce a pattern of suppressing our inner emotions within and prevent us from getting in touch with our real selves and making constructive changes. The ability to acknowledge that one is anything other than “cool” requires great courage and can pave the way for greater self-awareness and emotional freedom. You could be experiencing negative emotions like “feeling used”, “broken”, “useless”, or even feeling positive emotions like, “joyful”, “happy”, “contented”—you should be able to convey them accurately.

The habitual vocabulary used for describing our state of mind deprives us from constructively changing how we feel emotionally about an experience. Another commonly used phrase is “I am depressed.” Clinical depression is poles apart from being disappointed and low. However attaching the word “depressed” to our experiences only serves to magnify its intensity and perceive it as disastrous when in reality is isn’t as bad. The more an individual keeps narrating the experience and loosely declaring that he is depressed, the more he reinforces the negative emotional state within. Rational thinking does not prevail and the consequent behaviours can be unproductive.

On the other hand, using words such as “anguished”, “sorrowful”, or “distressed” also describe what an individual is experiencing in very difficult situations, which have very different connotations from using the word “depressed” habitually.

Words convey our subconscious thoughts. It is important to use them with an awareness that would enable us to create a more meaningful relationship with ourselves and with others. Life would thus be more refreshing and cool in the truer sense, when there would be concordance in what we say with what we think and feel.

This was first published in the January 2016 issue of Complete Wellbeing.

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