Yesterday, at 2:01 AM Pacific Time, Spring arrived. I was sleeping at that time, but woke for a moment at 3:05 AM and thought Good, it’s here at last! Though Thursday’s weather was a few degrees cooler and a bit cloudier than the day before, it had less of a bite- -really! Because, hey, it’s no longer Winter. The change in seasons has changed my perceptions. This got me thinking about the power of words.
So I tried an experiment.
Do I really want to hear about this?
It might be useful in your acting career, Lily, when you’re building a character who sees themselves differently than you see yourself.
To test my theory, I set my mind to imagine two simple things that are different than my current reality.
Huh?
About the power of words, 9. First, I told myself my lower teeth are perfectly straight, that those two in the front don’t buckle.
We have crooked teeth? When did that happen?
Early twenties, when our wisdom teeth came in. Those got pulled, followed by nine months in braces:
The power of words: Braces are Beautiful!
So if we had braces why are your teeth crooked now?
Not all my teeth, 9, just two of the lower ones in front. It’s the result of having a small jaw, combined with giving up on wearing a retainer after a few years.
In the experiment, when I imagined having straight teeth in front, a muscle under my left jaw abruptly relaxed! Until then, I had no idea I’d been holding it tight for forty years. All this from the simple substitution of the word “straight” for “crooked”!
The other simple word substitution I made: fifty, replacing sixty-five.
Isn’t sixty-five two words?
No, because it’s two words that represent a single number, an example of what’s called a compound word.
And what’s the relevance of this substitution?
It’s a backward trip in age, Lily. Lots of older people say things like “I know I’m _________ (actual age) but on the inside I feel like I’m nineteen.” In fact, it’s kind of amazing how often nineteen comes up in this context.
Personally, I feel like I’m forty.
I remember that, the place where you feel older and more mature than your peers. I still felt that way when I was forty, but also it was a lot more fun than you’re imagining it to be.
Back to the experiment. Back to fifty! My lips curved up into the hint of a smile. I felt a surge of energy, could feel my eyes throwing out an extra spark. Referring back to this picture from 2009:
The power of words: Back to age 50 and impersonating Audrey Hepburn!
Amazing! You actually tried to look nice for a change.
It was costume night at the Washington State Fairs Association convention. The theme was Hollywood. Though far from a dead ringer, my theme was Audrey Hepburn.
The power of words. Spring for Winter. Straight for Crooked. Fifty for Sixty-Five. There’s nothing wrong with winter, or crooked teeth, or getting older, and I may yet figure out how to make my mind understand this, too.
But- -wow! The power of words. They can transform.
It reminds me of something I heard in a stress management seminar back in my business suit days. When stressful things arise at work, the lecturer suggested we re-frame a turn of events that appear to be terrible or horrible or impossible as instead being interesting and inconvenient.
I don’t get it?
Interesting and inconvenient take the emotion out of the equation. This way, the problem can be addressed in a solution-oriented way instead of with panic.
Like all things in life, this deliberate attempt to change a reaction and/or perception won’t work 100% of the time. It’s a tool, one of many, to get through life’s challenges.
Why not also use the power of words as a tool for play?
