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The magic power of words

Bibbity, bobbity, boo!

Susan Brassfield Cogan
5 min readJan 3, 2018
Photo by Jonathan Crews on Unsplash

Abracadabra!

Look! Everything is different!

No?

Okay, just kidding.

But words do have power. That one doesn’t because it sounds silly and doesn’t matter.

I know in a way, saying three magic words is another one of those silly self-help tricks. If you’ve been burned by “positive affirmations” and “counting down from 5 to 1” you are going to be wise to give this piece of advice the side-eye.

But we already associate words with things. We do it naturally. My husband is associated with “laughter.” My kitchen with “food” and “messy.” My bed with “comfort.” Notebooks with “excitement” and “potential.” My laptop with “the world.” As in “World Wide Web.”

We play word association automatically all the time.

Home. That one resonates. It evokes images of safety, love, and comfort.

Water. Cleanliness … relaxation … a long drink on a hot day. Splashing waterfalls, rain.

Snow. Sharp winter night. Peaceful silent snowfall. Or howling blizzard. Or a white Christmas.

I fully understand that “home” can bring up images of violence and chaos. “Water” can be floods and…

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Susan Brassfield Cogan
Susan Brassfield Cogan

Written by Susan Brassfield Cogan

I write self-help, life coaching, and political opinion. I am a creativity and mindfulness coach https://linktr.ee/susanbcogan

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