We often overlook how powerful our words are for creating what we experience.

I was thinking about this earlier this week when I just about violated Agreement #1 from Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements. From the book:

Be Impeccable With Your Word Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to yourself and gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Someone had sent some hate mail and I almost jumped on Facebook to be snarky about it. But why? What good would that serve? Why would I want to keep the cycle going with my friends and loved ones?

Luckily, I thought about all of this before I hit “post” and deleted the snark.

Small choices like that can have bigger effects than we realize in a social environment due to emotional contagion. Social media amplifies emotional contagion, as well. That messages bounces, ricochets, and eventually comes back to you.

David Gray captured this well in a line in “Flame Turns Blue”: “I’m in collision // with every stone I’ve ever threw” (1:04 in the video below):

I’ve also previously written about the Triple Filters Test: is this true? Is it good? Is it useful? Those are good questions to ask, whether you’re the sender or receiver – the words we receive play into this as well.

Amanda from Whirling Squirrel Music – someone I’ve been waiting until I get all healed up to see – said

One of the rules is: Do Your Best. And sometimes humans make mistakes and have negative emotions. To err is human.

Very true. And it’s not that there’s anything wrong with “negative” emotions. Having them myself and hoisting them on others are two different things. It ultimately would’ve been fine, too; every moment is a chance to practice and we sometimes don’t live up to our aspirations.

We have moments and choices. Your words create what you will ultimately experience. Create little pebbles of snark and discontent, receive back stones you never threw. Create little gardens of truth and love, receive back abundance you never grew.