Several years ago, I took part in a training day offered by my colleague Sonia Di Maulo on leadership and positive communication.

She had invited me to offer a short laughter yoga workshop to the participants. I was lucky enough to be there for HER workshop. And I learned several important things.

First of all, I was really surprised to see how much my negative imprint was present in my vocabulary!

Without even intending to be negative, I was!

Negative me?

Have you noticed how negative our everyday language can often be?

In Quebec, for example, when someone asks us “How are you doing?” we often respond with “I’m not doing any worse (or any worse)!”

Negative!

We also say “no problem”.

Negative!

“I can’t complain”.

Negative!

That much?

Just realizing this has changed things for me.

Well, it’s still a constant effort to be vigilant about everything I say (and I miss many opportunities to do better) but I’m getting better! And that’s what counts, I think. One step at a time!

A little game of FLIPPER

The English expression “flip” translates as “bounce” or “reverse”.

Let’s do something together. We’re going to turn “negative” expressions into more “positive” ones.

Shall we give it a try? Use this visual to modify what you’d choose to say.

Once you’ve “flipped” the statements to the positive, I’m going to invite you to look at what Sonia was suggesting and especially to pay attention to your energy as you read each line.

Do you also feel… negative, lost, sad, heavy or has your energy changed?

I can tell you what happened for me by modifying certain expressions.

I felt more in “control” and with more momentum. As if I were also more present to ME.

What I’m proposing is quite simple, but sometimes difficult.

We seem to be almost conditioned to express ourselves in “negative” mode.

So how about paying attention from now on to the way we say things and “flipping” them to the positive?

Thank you to Sonia DiMaulo for this wonderful life lesson!

Vigilance my friends! Let’s be vigilant!

Click here to see what Sonia suggested.