Why Leveraging Language is Powerful
Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble — Yehuda Berg
Leveraging language is powerful because it improves meaning in your life and in your interactions with others; increasing focus on what’s most important to you. By leveraging language, you increase your level of awareness of other people and of yourself. By understanding what language is and how it represents meaning by using words you will develop refined communication skills. You will better understand, and be understood by others.
You will better understand, and be understood by others
Psychologically, it is beneficial to have an acute awareness of what your environment means to you and what it means to others. You increase your knowledge and understanding of yourself, of others, and of your environment, so your psychology emphasises and increases in knowledge by learning new things specifically related to how you understand language and the system of language; helping you begin to increase your understanding of other people and their behaviours; why they do what they do, and the meaning surrounding it, with respect to language, by increasing knowledge. Therefore, beginning to understand and increasing understanding leads to wisdom.
Your mind will be sharper, quicker and with more agility. Your mind will be more effective, and your thinking skills will improve. You can start to utilise the system of language. For example, Chomsky’s L.A.D (Language Acquisition Device) How do we absorb language and knowledge?
‘A language is not just words. It’s a culture, a tradition, a unification of a
community, a whole history that creates what a community is. It’s all
embodied in a language.’ Noam Chomsky
5 Ways to leverage language:
1. Look up words you don’t know. If you see a word in a sentence, simply
google it. Look it up. Read the definitions and then google the synonyms of it.
2. Look up at least three similar words because you’ll increase your
understanding of words and how they’re a part of language. It will
improve how you understand meaning.
3. Focus on body language. Did you know 80 percent of communication is non-verbal? So focusing on body language will improve your skills, with respect to leveraging language psychologically.
4. Focus on what people are doing with their arms. Are their arms crossed Are their arms open? People talk with their bodies. Really start to listen to what other people’s body language is saying.
5. Practise mirroring. When you mirror somebody, you gently copy what
they’re doing. So if they’re crossing their arms, gently cross your arms too. If they’re leaning against the wall, gently lean against the wall too.
It creates a sense of unity and similarity, which will improve your
connection with them and your understanding of others.
By increasing your awareness of the ubiquity of language you’ll begin to become stronger at leveraging its power. With practice you’ll better understand and be understood by others. How much of an impact would this have to our world?
Thank you for reading,
Adapted from:
Confide: The New Psychology of Confidence. How to Power Up after Experiencing Depression (2019)
HERE for updates on: Work Is Mental: Rethinking Future Workplace Mental Health (Out May 2021)
