NO, NOT ,DO NOT….

 

 

For some unknown reasons I was sliding into a negative frame of mind. As such things are positive in my life and still this negative energy was making me bit drained.

My friend, who is a Neuro Linguistics Programming expert said it mostly originates from my negative language and if I consciously change my language I would be brimming with positive energy.

Next day, when I got up, I decided to use only positive language throughout the day. As suggested by the friend, I decided to observe my language closely and make changes immediately if I am slipping into negative mode. He said I should reframe every negative message I come across into positive.

As I was tying my walking shoes, the newspaper arrived. " US and Isreal attacked Iran, hundreds killed" the headlines screamed. I stared at the headlines for a few seconds failing to understand how I will rephrase this into positive. This, undoubtedly, is not just a language problem. This is the result of the deeper evil side of human thinking. Still, since I wanted to make a positive statement I took a pen, crossed the heading and wrote boldly- NO TO WAR. That was a good beginning and I felt happy.

 My happiness, however, was short lived. As I walked past a boundary wall, I saw something written on that-" Stick no bills". Half of us will not even understand what a bill means here. I halted for a second and rewrote that statement in my mind and made it positive - " Help to keep my beautiful wall as it is". Wow, rephrasing was working and I felt elated.

But I was not ready for the challenges thrown at me. When I looked around what I saw astonished me-

"Don't push, it is an automatic gate"

" Don't throw waste here"

" Don't keep the chappals on the temple steps"

" Please don't horn"(  yes it is horn and not honk)

" Don't drink and drive"

" Don't park here"

“ Not a thoroughfare”

 As I kept looking around, I started feeling dizzy. Most of the instructions and language started with NO or DO NOT. I wondered why I never noticed it before. These statements have become such an integral part of our life that we never experience the impact it has on us. Truth is, unfortunately, this seemingly harmless language is slowly injective negative energy into us.

When I thought about it, I realized that we could not just blame the language alone. All these so-called negative statements are the result of our indiscipline.

Our civic senses are at the lowest. We have an inborn tendency to disregard all laws and rules. We do not respect our responsibilities as a citizen. We have reached a point where, though to a negligible effect, only threat works. We have fully become numb to positive and affirmative language.

The above are just a few examples of what I saw in my forty-five minutes’ walk. If you observe deeply, you can have an unending list of such statements. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself using such language frequently. The realization drained me further. Nevertheless, I decided not to give up. By adding a dose of positive energy to my mind, I understood I could easily rephrase all the above-mentioned statements into a more positive and affirmative way, which will be beneficial to all of us.

The most important question is whether it is our actions that is defining our language or is it the language which is influencing our actions. According to my friend, we should start from our language.

By then I had reached back home and I could see my four-year-old grandson climbing on the gate, eagerly waiting for my return.

From the distance I could hear my daughter shouting.” Don’t climb on it, don’t climb”.

She was surprised when I smiled instead of shouting at him, which is what I did normally. I picked up my grandson and declared, “son you have many more heights to climb”. Yes, we don’t need too much effort to change our language from negative to positive.

Why can't we all give it a try? Sorry, let me rephrase it- let us all give it a try. Meanwhile, just make an attempt at reframing the above statements I have mentioned. That will be a good starting point. Let NOT’S AND DO NOT’S take some rest.