Say it Out Loud

Dear Jessica Brennan,

I listen to a lot of speakers and read quite a bit about the power of the mind, and one thing that keeps coming up for me recently is the idea of speaking things into being.

I have had mixed emotions about this concept for years, because sometimes I think it is best to keep your ideas to yourself so that the negative naysayers and even your well meaning friends, don’t tell you why what you want can never happen.  But this “speaking into being” now feels different than that and I think that’s because it seems to all come down to how you speak it.

For example, if you say, “I think I might like to lose ten pounds”, the naysayers will tell you how hard it is to lose ten pounds at your age and how so many people who lose weight put it back on and more.  Your well meaning friends are no help either. They just tell you that you look fine so don’t bother with the weight loss. The end result is the same, you receive advice that gives you an excuse not to do what it is you want to do. If however, you enthusiastically say (and mean), “I’m losing ten pounds”, to whomever will listen, over and over, I think you will have a better chance.  Especially if it goes like this, “No thanks, I won’t have that huge slice of double chocolate cake with ice cream because I’m losing ten pounds”.

This isn’t the only way to accomplish things, and of course speaking it, doesn’t do the work for you, but taking the idea out of the confines of your mind and bringing it into the light of the world, gives it life and horsepower.

I saw this best when I worked with Alan Frew.  We were in the very early stages of writing a book, and by early, I mean we had scribbled some ideas on the back of a cocktail napkin in the bar at the King Eddie Hotel in Toronto late one night after a gig. As soon as we did that, I watched Alan go into, well, Alan-mode. He started telling everyone who would listen that we were writing a book.  I’m not going to lie, it made me nervous. What if the book never happened? What if it wasn’t any good? What if he lost interest before it was written?

People would ask him what the book was called.  He didn’t know. We were only about a quarter of the way through writing the first draft when Alan went out on a speaking tour to talk to the masses about this imaginary book. That book we hadn’t written yet.

But we did write it and we sold loads of copies. As he told the world we were writing it, I watched things line up for us. The expectation was out there that the project would get done so the steps to do it started falling into place. I watched him speak a book into being.

Saying things out loud can be scary. There is a fear that we might declare something and then not accomplish it. What will people think? There is a chance we will do what we said, and it will be a horrible failure – best to keep it to ourselves.

The interesting thing about witnessing Alan in action was that he didn’t seem bothered at all by the potential disaster I saw. He just kept telling people we were writing a book and then letting go of the “how” and “when” of it all.

As Goethe said, “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

I think of this phenomenon as being sort of like having a dinner party. When you decide to throw a dinner you don’t wait until all the food is made, the table is set and the candles are lit, before you invite your guests. You invite the guests first, and then trust that you can put the rest together on budget and on time. Probably none of the food you need is in the fridge when the invitation goes out, you might not even know what the menu will be, but you trust your ability enough to bring about the event, and by inviting people you put pressure on yourself to accomplish your goal. Somehow the act of declaring, “I’m having a dinner party, will you come?” becomes the momentum required for the meal to take place. You speak it into being.

You may or may not think this strategy will work at all for you, but give it a try and see. Think of something you would like to do and then tell the world confidently that you’re going to do it. Start small and see how it goes, then build on that. Speak it out of your head and into the world, then release the “how” and “when”, and watch the universe conspire with you to make it happen.

What will you speak into being?

Love,

Mum xo