Just think, these kinds of things are spoken every second. With every syllable that comes out of your mouth, you literally have power to greatly enhance another person’s self-perception, or destroy it.

Some people are seemingly oblivious to power of their words. They spout and spew, apparently never stopping to consider what those words are doing to listener. They feel justified in “telling it like it is.” I doubt that we are ever justified in purposely and thoughtlessly causing harm to another with what we say to them.

The absence of words can also have an affect. When someone does not reply to something you’ve said or asked, it is impossible to know what that lack of reply is really saying. Do they just consider what you’ve said to be totally unimportant? Are they too busy to reply? When I was just starting out in my business, I emailed someone who had same type of business and asked her questions about how she got started, and what was helpful for her in getting clients. I never did hear back from her. That made me think that she just didn’t want to bother with a “newbie.” She’d had opportunity to help someone else, and possibly to further her own career by generating referrals, just by being helpful. But her lack of response made me decide that she was not someone I would recommend to others.

Be careful what you say. Think about impact your words will have. Words change people’s lives.