My poopy seagull

I learnt something new this week…I learnt what a weasel word was. Supposedly it is a word used in order to avoid being clear or direct.

If you are still not sure of an example of a weasel word, look at any job description on the internet and you are bound to find one.

‘But why am I being told this’  you ask?

Because I had a mini revelation of my own weasel words and thought it might be of help to you.

I consider myself to be a wordy type person and strongly believe in the power of words. So much so, that when I went to Manly beach a few months back, I didn’t want to eat dinner on the sand because I was convinced (and verbally articulated) that a seagull would poop on my head. 

Low and behold, it happened just as I said! You could call it a coincidence but I just call it getting what you asked for lol. Along with the series of sisterly taunts I received for that confession, I learnt a powerful lesson that day…let me explain.

The ‘Anna definition’ of a weasel word is any word or series of words that weasel you out of living the way you should or the way God intended you to live (to be frank)…e.g. the word ‘can’t’. Infamous for it power but so lacks lustre in the momentum department.

The word can’t has never got me into a better position than I was in…only out of one I didn’t want to be in. It has taken many years of practice to get out of the habit of saying stuff that is fruitless and unproductive.

Can you imagine if God said “Let there be universe” instead of “Let there be light”. God was specific. Albeit that He is God, He got for He asked for.

At the beginning of each year, most of us reel off things that we want to see, do, or experience for the year. Half of the things we hope for are last year’s left overs. The other half of our hopes are usually distant thoughts that we merely  consider at the time of great encouragement  and forget about when the clock hits five. I sound super pessimistic in the last sentence. But I am actually quite hopeful that the truth that I lived last year, where not much got done, will be of some encouragement to you guys as you head into what I know will actually be a life changing year for you.

I think sometimes we need to stop the merry go round of excusing ourselves out of our dreams and hopes and why they don’t happen. Yes, sometimes circumstances get in the way of us pursuing and achieving. But often I have experienced that it’s us that get in the way.

But rather than focus on the debbie downer of it all, how can we move on dot com as my friend would say?

Well, take a sip of willingness and a dash of choice and you have change in the making.

Aka, be kind to yourself, get back on the horse and shutta thy mouth until you have an action that has no gear for reverse. 

Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending upon how you see things), our tongue doesn’t have a rewind button. But it does have blinkers. We can indicate our next action by doing the exact same thing that caused us to go left, to make us turn right.

Give it a go. Use Valentine’s day as the perfect playground.

Tell that girl she looks beautiful, not just invite her to coffee.

Tell that guy that you you are keen to hang out more not just ‘I hope we do this again sometime’. Be specific. Get rid of your weasel words for 2014. YOU MIGHT JUST GET WHAT YOU ASKED FOR

Lots of Love from me

An x