"A careless word may kindle strife,
A cruel word may wreck a life,
A timely word may lessen stress,
A loving word may heal and bless."
-- Author Unknown

Words have the power to make you or mar you. Words can actually make or break a person’s life. Such is their impact.

This post is not about words as such but I guess it has got to do with positive words in particular. Positive words carry about them a silent signal, perhaps telling us to go ahead, an affirmation so as to say.

This is from my own experience. Any child would first seek positive stroking/approval from the parents before he goes out to face the world. And again out of mom and dad, one becomes the role model (in most cases, exceptions are there as always). In my case, it was my dad in the role of “role model”.

I still can recall how with his grim face and stiff upper lip, he would say -“No”,”Not now”, “Don’t do that”,” Don’t go there”.When I would insist that he gave reasons for the same, he cleverly knew what exactly to say with a fatherly concern and love in his eyes and I never realized that all he was doing was to dampen my spirits. Moreover I know for sure it was never anything abnormal or unacceptable that I had wanted to do that he would give his negative signaling. Perhaps due to his love for me and due to his primitive ways of thinking, he felt a girl child ought not to do this, that etc.etc.If not words, at other times, only gestures were enough to convey the message.

I never could make out all along what a terrible effect the negative strokes were to bring about on me. Not till I moved away from home for studies. Life at hostel begins and enter an angel (no exaggerations) in the form of a teacher. Somehow she figured out that something was wrong in my upbringing, that someone had fine tuned my mind into such negative thinking.She started giving me positive injections. Every word she spoke worked magic on me. I started discovering myself, a new self that was unknown, unexplored…

 Out of hostel I know where Iam now and what all I had missed as a child and as a teen was because of those words. I give full marks to my dad for his love and protection towards us but in the department of encouragement, no comments.

So dear readers, unless otherwise absurd be sure to give your whole hearted support and encouragement to your loved ones, especially to the younger ones because it is your approval first they seek and only then comes the world’s……