Words are magic.
I knew this from a very young age.
When I was five, I started learning Spanish. I was jealous of my friends who got to go to Hebrew school.
I remember watching my dad read the newspaper and wondering how he could do that in his head.
When I was seven or eight, I decided my life goal was to speak seven languages. When I was seventeen, I discovered a life-long passion, linguistics—the science of language.
But I had always known the magic of language.
I’m sure it’s no surprise that my pet peeve is people who don’t choose their words carefully. Or who have no respect for what words mean. Prodigal does not mean returned. There’s a difference between phase and faze, between jibe and jive. Don’t get me started on there, their, and they’re.
Every word we utter, or even think can have profound consequences. Every sentence is a magical spell.
Affirmations, of course. Every day, in every way, my joyous prosperity grows and grows. My life is an adventure taking me wonderful new places. I choose to see the beauty and love that surround me.
And self-talk. I’ve written about that before, about how seemingly little things like “I’ll never figure this out” become self-fulfilling prophecies. How self-deprecation does us no favors.
Look at the emotions these sentences create:
I want to kiss your elbow.
What was that noise downstairs?
He ruined listening to my favorite album for me.
You‘re going to have twins!
Let’s play Twister.
I brought you a cup of coffee.
It’s stage 4 cancer.
I trust you with my secrets.
How about word superstitions? Voldemort, or He-who-must-not-be-named (speak of the devil and he shall appear). Saying “God bless you” after someone sneezes (but never after someone coughs). Using euphemisms for death. Saying “dead” doesn’t bring it about any more than saying “pregnant” makes that happen.
Authors create magic every time they write. They draw us into another world, introduce us to new people, change our mood, our outlook, or our mind all with words.
I challenge you to create a little bit of your own magic, to write a story in one sentence.
It can be as simple as “When he walked into the room, I knew my life would never be the same.”
Or as clunky as, “Cass sighed and called for the jaws of life to release the man from the car that was upside down on her front lawn, blaring INXS.”
Or finish this sentence, “What if…”
What can you create with those two words? What do they offer? What spell can they cast? Where can they take you?
What if… you believed in magic?