The Word

One of the phrases that often comes to my mind is from a book by Miguel Ruiz titled The Four Agreements.  It is a book I recommend frequently.  The phrase is “Be impeccable with your Word.”  In this phrase I note the capitalization of “Word”.  Word is used here as a proper noun which indicates that the writer intends for us to see this as the name of a person or thing. Ruiz calls this the first agreement and suggests that this singular agreement can change your life.

I had an opportunity to think about this concept yesterday.  Oddly, the thoughts came during a run.  Lately I have not found myself thinking while running but rather just focusing on completing my run which has not left room for many other thoughts.  Yet, this thought came to me powerfully and would not go away.  It occurred to me that the Word that I had been using during my runs was limiting my capacity.  I had been focusing on just getting through the run, often times telling myself that perhaps I could not run as far or as hard as I had planned.  The result of using the Word in this way was that it limited my ability and made many of these runs seem long and difficult.  However, during yesterday’s run the focus shifted.  It seemed that my Word was about strength and speed.  The result was an effortless run that seemed to go by quickly.

How often do we find ourselves telling ourselves limiting thoughts?  Thoughts like “I will never have enough money”, or “I don’t know how I am going to get through this”, or “I could never do that”.  The results of these limiting thoughts, or limiting words expressed as thoughts rarely produce positive results.  Rather, they produce fear, anxiety and often times anger.  These emotions of course rarely serve us well.

When we examine the phrase “Be impeccable with your Word” we begin to understand that Ruiz wants us to use words in a way that do not turn those words against ourselves.  He writes in his book that impeccable is a word derived from a combination of two words.  A Latin word “peccare” which means “to sin”, and the Latin prefix “in” meaning “not”. The combination of these words means means not capable of sinning.

It is fairly easy to see how we might commit a sin with our words and certainly greater minds than mine could discuss this at length.  But there is another approach that I would like to explore.  While we know clearly about the sins we can commit against others with our words, I want to explore the sins we commit against ourselves with our words.  As I indicated above, when I was running I was frequently thinking limiting thoughts.  The results of these thoughts were in fact limiting my abilities.  The result was that I was using my Word against myself.  How often do we do that?  We use words against ourselves to limit, discourage, or promote fear.  We use words to cause ourselves pain.  Is that not a sin against ourselves?

I trust that as you read this you don’t dismiss this as some sort of theological or religious rant.  Rather, I am proposing that we begin to examine our words and the power they hold.  Words are real.  They can be used in powerful ways.  Just turn on your television and watch the national discourse and the words being chosen by all sides of the political spectrum.  Watch a political debate or 30 minutes of what we now call “News”.  You will experience a well of emotions ranging from fear, anger, joy, and excitement.  You will align yourself with certain words.  Particularly those that come from people that you perceive to be just like you.  You will become angry at the words used by those that you see as different from you.  Yet, stepping back we must remember that these are their words.  We don’t know if they are being impeccable when they use them.  We don’t know if they are using the words with an intent to be delivered without harm or pain to another.  We can’t blindly trust the words of those we do not really know because we do not really know their intent.

I don’t have a sufficient audience to begin to change the national discourse.  I don’t have a soapbox to speak from that would permit me to cause us as a nation to become impeccable with our words.  But I can be one voice that begins to say and repeat over and over again “Be Impeccable with your Word.”  Maybe it does not need to start on a national level.  Maybe you can just start in your own head.  Take the time to examine the words you are using right now with just yourself.  Let’s get control over the limiting, painful, and untrue words we permit there.  Once we gain control of our inner world we can begin to have an impact on our outer world.  

I would like to ask anyone reading this today to take a moment before you leave this to just examine the words that you are aware of right now.  Are they advancing you or holding you back?  Are your words hurting another or limiting their potential?  Are your words making you smile or frown?  

Your Word is magical.  When your Word is free from fault or blame watch what happens first in your own mind and then in the world around you.

BE IMPECCABLE WITH YOUR WORD!