I begged my husband to stay with me on the couch as we started the first episode of the new television series on Netflix called “The Haunting of Hill House.” After all it is the Halloween season, so it seems right to curl up on the coach with the big warm blanket to watch something that will make me scared to death. And yes, the show succeeded!
The next morning, my husband grabbed a cup of coffee with me and stated, “You know you woke up screaming last night in bed, right?” I remember looking at him like he had spiders coming out of his head. My forehead was scrunched up as I thought about what he said. I was thinking – who me?? Then I vaguely remembered that I had indeed woken up, screamed to my core and then quickly went back to sleep. (He, however, did not. He was up for the rest of the night.)
The fright of watching a simple one-hour haunting show can impact your psyche, whether or not you actually realize it. It can play on your conscious and subconscious in ways that we often do not realize.
Our Words Impact Us – Body, Mind, Emotions & Spirit:
What Words Do You Use?
It’s not just TV shows that can leave us feeling scared, anxious or terrorized. Take a moment to consider the words that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. For instance, here are some of the key words that were in our newspaper headlines in the past week.
- CBS News “Stock Market Plunge: Wall Street Volatility is Back with Vengeance.”
- Fox News “When Embassies Become Places of Terror, Not Sanctuaries.”
- Yahoo News “Where Things Stand Before the Midterm Elections”
- CNN News “A Hurricane Wiped An Entire Hawaiian Island off the Map.”
We relate to the metaphorical description of situations but don’t they also heighten our emotional response? Words such as…
- Volatility is back with a vengeance;
- Places of terror;
- Where things stand…; and
- Wiped.. off the map.
In our communications, we use metaphorical verbiage without considering its lingering effect on us, emotionally, physically and psychologically. Take a moment to consider your favorite TV show titles. Might they be – “Lost?” “The Walking Dead?” “Breaking Bad?” “Mad Men?” What other shows top your list?
While you think about your favorite shows, here is the current list by Rotten Tomatoes of the top 2018 comedy show titles.
- “One Day at a Time”
- “Big Mouth”
- “American Vandal”
- “The End of the F***cking World”
- “The Good Place”
Thank heavens we like “The Good Place.” It seems to be the only positive TV show in the line up. Striking though, isn’t it? The words used in our society. It is a constant drumbeat from multiple sources such as TV, music, newspapers, social media and internet.
Consider All of the Media Inputs to You Daily
Our words matter. They impact our world around us. And when they focus on the negative or harsh side, it impacts all of us personally too. People do feel an increase in anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and feeling worn down.
Implications to Our Health:
In our healthcare arena, doctors, nurses and other medical/healthcare practitioners are keenly aware that patients speak metaphorically what is happening in their life and their physical bodies. Think about it. Phrases such as “he died of a broken heart” or “his nerves got the better of him” are just quick examples.
You might be hesitant to agree with me that words matter. But what if our words are more powerful than we currently realize? What if words and thoughts really do impact us personally and collectively? Let’s take a moment to flash back to the Depression-era of our country. In the late 1920s, here were some of the key headlines of newspapers at the time.
Newspaper Headlines Around the Depression
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle headline “Wall Street Panic as Stocks Crash”
- Memphis Evening Appeal headline “Stocks Up Briskly After Heavy Slump”
- The Montreal Daily Star headline “Record Sales Send Leaders Crashing”
- Great Falls Tribune headline “Buying Halts Stock Collapse”
Words such as “collapse,” “crash”, “bottom reached” were the typical verbiage in the newspapers – the main communication tool at the time for our country. Americans were feeling as if they could not stand on their own two feet, literally and figuratively. If you watched the wonderful movie “Seabiscuit,” it focuses on an unlikely and down-and-out horse that mounts a comeback for racing victories and lifts the spirit of our countrymen during the Depression. The movie weaves the story of despair, loss and confusion as Americans sought something to hold on to while everything collapsed around them.
This down-and-out feeling in the American psychic was not only felt emotionally, it was also felt physically. In the 1920s, cases of polio began to surface, leaving many children and adults unable to walk. Carolyn Myss,a medical intuitive, does an amazing job of explaining how our lost hope and sense of an inability to move forward may have actually taken physical formation as the illness of “polio.” A disease reflecting our inability to stand up.
Think a moment about the word “Depression.” We even use an emotional word to describe a “depressing” time in our culture. Yet, Myss states that we were completely shattered by the Wall Street collapse, loss of jobs and inability to stand on our own two-feet. So what did we do? We elected a leader, Franklin Roosevelt, who was himself suffering from polio. A person who epitomized the inability to stand up and who then proceeded to lead us out of the Depression. Step by step, we moved forward as individuals and as a country. Ten years later, after the country had regained its’ footing, a cure for polio was discovered.
Things to Ponder and Consider:
I am not at all saying that every disease or illness originates solely in our mind and emotions. Yet, there is enough in our healthcare vocabulary to recognize again that we do speak metaphorically, including our illnesses. Further, most ancient wisdom traditions agree that we are all connected – to one another, to the earth, to the plants and animals. If true, when a collective consciousness has within its’ psyche anxiety, depression, or loss of hope, it seems logical to consider that there are more global implications. That together, we infuse the energy around us with “free radicals” that cause further disruptions – physically and emotionally. Or conversely, we infuse the energy around us with harmonic vibrations that reduce the chaos and confusion.
Take a moment to review the wording of our newspapers this week. The words were volatility, terror, wiped off and where things stand. Is it any coincidence that this same week, 22 States reported a new strain of polio was being observed in children?
What Can You Do?
If this article resonates with you or has engaged your interest, here are a few things to consider.
Choosing Your Words Carefully
- Watch Your Words: Take time to be aware of your wording. Where do you speak metaphorically? What is the issue about – a relationship? A health issue? A job? See if there is not something else underlying your metaphorical speak.
- Take a Sabbatical from Media: Consider leaving your social media, your TV, your radio, your newspaper and everything else in another room for just one day a week. Get outside into nature and relax. Allow your energy to be replenished.
- Pay Attention to Others: Be aware of how and when others use metaphorical verbiage too. I think you will find this particularly interesting.
- Bring in Happy Thoughts: This may sound a bit cliché but seriously for your own health and for the health of our collective consciousness – focus on the positive! Our society currently shies away from words that reflect the sacred – bring back those words such as grace, gratefulness, higher power and dare I even say “God.” Words that reflect the larger perspective in the Universe can be extremely powerful.