Positive Thoughts and Words

One day, an eight year old boy named Ethan was playing in the park, climbing trees..

He was a good climber and soon climbed 30 feet high in a tree. Excited, he started hanging on one of its branches and swinging back and forth. He was having so much fun, he didn’t realize that any moment one of the branches could break.

His cousin Liam, who was just a year older, started playing on the same tree. He was hanging just 10 feet below him.

Ethan’s father and Liam’s mother noticed that the kids were up too high and they could fall. Before they could get to them, suddenly a gust of wind came over the tree and it started to sway.

Ethan could hear the voice of his father saying, “Ethan, hold on tightly.”

Liam’s mother was shouting, “Liam, DON’T FALL!!!”

Seconds later, Liam fell out of the tree. His mother ran to his rescue but luckily he wasn’t injured. Ethan scampered carefully down the tree to safety.

After getting home, Liam’s mother asked Ethan’s father, “I wonder why both our boys were hanging from the same tree, yet my older son fell and yours didn’t?”

He replied, “I can’t say for sure, but when the gust of wind came, you panicked and yelled out, ‘Liam, don’t fall’ and then in that moment he did.”

Liam’s mom looked surprised, so Ethan’s dad explained further.

“You see, the mind processes commands. It has a very difficult time processing fear and negativity. In order for Liam to respond to the command of not falling, he had to imagine falling and then try to tell the brain not to fall. When Ethan was told to hold on tightly, his brain had an instant image and command of hanging on tightly and so he did.”

Liam’s mother was intrigued by his response and went home that night still thinking about what happened. She believed in positive thinking, but she never really thought about the real life implication and their effect on the mind and our experiences in such a way.

Believe it or not, positive thoughts and words can affect the outcome of our experiences.

-- Author Unknown