Your Mind and Voice Has Power

Most people might not know this, but what you think and speak out loud can determine your future. Your voice has power... and that can either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending how you decide to use it.

In the national bestseller book, The Artisan Soul, author Erwin Raphael McManus focuses on our voice in his second chapter. He takes a deeper dive into how our voice can affect us and the soul.

McManus goes very in-depth with personal stories and Bible scripture in order to explain how "voice" connects with the soul and how we can express our voice without even talking, such as through the arts. Through the majority of the chapter, I would agree with McManus' ideas.

However, I am going to focus on a single aspect here, perhaps the simplest aspect... which is our actual voice -- our words and why they are important.

Proverbs 18:21 states that "life and death are in the power of the tongue," (ESV).

Now what does that even mean? Sounds a little crazy right? Well I can tell you right now that you can't control if somebody lives or dies by saying something about them. What this particular scripture means is that we can bring either positivity or negativity to our lives simply by what we believe and what we say.

In addition to this, you are the only person who can control what you're going to say, thus, you're the only person who can intentionally bring negativity or positivity to your life.

There's a whole process to this: (1) First it begins with a thought that enters our mind. That thought about yourself can either be good or bad; it could have been your own thought, or an idea that was influenced by someone else around you. (2) Then you have to choose whether to accept or deny that thought; whatever you accept as true or decide to believe, (3) you will eventually speak it out loud or carry out that action.

Most people who know me know that I am usually a very positive person. That's just who I am, but it's also who I choose to be, and many people need that in their life today.

Yet I know so many people who are always very negative. They look at every situation in a bad way... and I understand that not everyone can be happy all the time, as everyone goes through their own personal issues... things happen, that's life. 

Therefore, if you struggle with negativity, there are only a few tips I have for you -- they are more simple that you may think: (1) Try to change your way of thinking. If you constantly have negative thoughts of yourself, choose not to believe them. (2) Are the people you hang out with healthy or toxic? Usually, positive people attract other positive people and negative people attract other negative people. If you're surrounded by negative people, then remove yourself from those people for the sake of your own health. Surround yourself around positive people and you will see and feel a difference. (3) Lastly, faith/spirituality is big part of joy and happiness. This is something that McManus emphasizes a lot in his book. This is something that I emphasize and connect with, as one of my favorite Bible scriptures says, "For the joy of the Lord is my strength..." (Nehemiah 8:10).

Just remember, YOU are the only one who can control what you believe and speak. Your mind and your voice is a powerful thing.