How Language Transforms Our Experience?

Language can take on a world of its own. Certain words can take on certain meanings and functions. This is partially how we make meaning and relate things to one another. In relationships, we know that people bring different histories and meanings to whatever interaction they have.

Here is an example of relating:

Your red shirt is your favorite.

Your favorite shirt smells terrible.

THEREFORE: your red shirt smells terrible.

We are constantly relating thoughts, emotions, judgments, and sensations.

Another example:

Someone embarrassed you during a soccer game, and you start relating soccer with embarrassment. Then you start feeling embarrassed even when you hear the word soccer because your mind starts playing memories and sensations connected to that experience. This is important because our mind is constantly relating, and in relationships a comment from a partner can bring up past hurt memories connected to that comment.

On one hand, this ability allows us to do incredible things, but you can also get stuck in a thought loop or a certain linguistic loop that can move you away from your values and keep you trapped. 

The good news is that the ACT Crucible can help you learn to step back from unhelpful relating and transform these patterns into ways of relating that create the things we want, such as deeper connection and contributing to our communities.

Our mind is constantly relating, and that can impact how we think, act, and feel. Learning to develop cognitive flexibility can help you avoid the traps of language and transform your life.

Cognitive flexibility, for example, if you see yourself dwelling on a thought, is the ability to learn to make room for it without letting it dictate how you act. It is a dialectic of having a thought and not letting yourself be driven by it, while also making room for the thought, making meaning of it, and understanding the wisdom in it without acting on it blindly.