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Do Words Matter? The Message of Water…
Be “aware” of your thoughts and words…
Many of us can remember using that phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” We felt protected by that phrase. When kids called us names, we could shout out that phrase and feel that we had diffused the effects of what they had said. Like magic, we had turned hurtful words into nothing. Wasn’t it great being a kid?
Fast forward to today. Science has revealed that there is a definite connection among all aspects of our being. Over the years we learned that words did hurt us. Maybe they didn’t cause any visible physical damage, but what about our feelings? It didn’t take us long to learn that those hurtful words did have an effect on us, after all-- words DO matter. We think that words matter because of etiquette and social intelligence, so we choose our words carefully when forming our ideas to express. We know on an intuitive level that the words we use will either have a positive, negative, or neutral effect, depending on the audience and circumstances. Which words hurt and which ones heal? Is there a way to tell the difference?
Not that long ago, it was believed that the body and mind were separate with no crosstalk between the two. As researchers began diving deeper into consciousness research, there was a revival in the field of psychology as it originated in the late 1800’s. That early research focused on exploring consciousness, seeking to understand its functions and structure. Researchers hoped to better understand the nature and structure of human thought, but the methods used required a subjective approach, resulting in limited hard data. Psychology as a discipline was in its infancy and strived to become a science among peers, thus consciousness research was essentially set aside to make room for other approaches, like behaviorism, that yielded more hard data.
Research in the field of Energy Psychology has broadened how we view consciousness. We are energy. After all, we measure “life” by brainwaves and heartbeats—both of which are facilitated by the chemical and electrical nature of our physiology. Traditional treatments for human conditions, such as mental imbalances or physical ailments, are met with little pills that are chemicals synthesized to interact and hopefully, to alleviate symptoms within the body and mind. Some treatments have and are using electrical impulses, or shocks, to regulate bodily systems. Think of how the heart is shocked back into rhythm using electrical currents, or how in the past, electroconvulsive therapy was widely used to “shock” a person out of their depression or behaviors that were considered abnormal. It is not surprising to find medicine cabinets filled with various chemical concoctions prescribed for various conditions.
In 2004, I attended a conference in Santa Monica, CA where a number of consciousness researchers gathered to discuss the implications of the film, What the Bleep Do We Know? The speakers at this conference consisted of quantum physicists, molecular biologists, psychologists and a water researcher. They discussed the nature of consciousness and reality and the power of the mind to actually affect the world around us. I encourage all of you to watch the film to discover the secrets of consciousness revealed in “What the Bleep Do We Know?!?!?!” This is a link to that video:
What The Bleep Do We Know?
One of the speakers was the late, well-known molecular biologist, Candace Pert. Dr. Pert taught at Georgetown University and was the person credited with discovering the brain’s opiate receptor sites which are responsible for endorphin production. In one of her books, The Molecules of Emotion, she wrote that our emotional states create a chemical cocktail feeding that emotional state. Our altered emotions are mediated by the neurochemistry in our brain and bodies. The interactions between the body and mind are referred to as the ”bodymind” connection. The term indicates that we cannot separate the body from the mind because of the interactive effects between the two. What we do to our bodies affects our mind. Conversely, what we think about impacts our bodily functions and therefore, health.
Molecules of emotion are everywhere throughout the body, not just in the brain. The combination of the neurochemicals secreted when we experience our emotions are similar to different cocktails, and their syntheses create particular mental states. At the biological and physiological level, our brain forms neural connections that wire together. Neurons that wire together, fire together. When these same emotions are repeated over and over again, we become “addicted” to that chemical rush. Like addicts, we somehow create circumstances that activate the cascade of chemicals, satisfying our craving for the moment. We become predisposed to repeat those emotions again and again in similar circumstances—a reactionary pattern if you will—a habit.
Our emotions trigger our subconscious personalities through this interaction of neurochemicals and our focus of attention. The body acts as our subconscious mind because our bodies become used to the neurochemical combinations produced whenever we experience any emotional state. Like an addict, this produces a need for future release of the same chemical combinations so we can get our “fix.” In the film, What the Bleep Do We Know, Pert discussed the effects of our emotions upon the neural networks established in the brain. The more we feel or allow an emotion to arise, the stronger the connections become in that neural network.
When we allow past experiences to color the way we interpret the present situation, we strengthen the neural connections that keep us in compulsive behaviors regardless of whether the emotions are appropriate for the situation or not. This suggests that if we are to overcome negative emotions, we have to break the cycle. We have to take action to prevent that neural network from firing through our conscious intervention of the process. We notice it arising and stop it in its tracks, becoming the observer rather than the actor. Similar to what I have described in previous articles, we learn to not add stories to what is happening and try to just see it as it is. To Be in the Now. We step back and observe. If we do this often enough we can diffuse the neural nets that are activated during those types of situations. We react less and are primed to respond instead.
Another strategy is to laugh. Have you ever noticed that you cannot be mad and laugh at the same time? Laughing is a wonderful way to diffuse any situation and serves to break the negative feelings, emotions, and behaviors that we tend to repeat. It is also a way to build your immunity. In chi kung practices we are taught to laugh out loud as part of our exercises. It’s quite liberating!
When we laugh, meditate, use imagery for healing, listen to certain types of music, or simply say loving things to ourselves, we are affecting the body-mind towards well-being. When we can create a blissful state of consciousness, we are feeling a surge of endorphins. Endorphins create a bliss state. We experience a lack of separation from others and instead experience feelings of union. Prayer, meditation, and affirmations affect consciousness and the molecules in the body-mind. Pert said, “I know forgiving myself and others for errors of the past allows me to heal.” Verbal imagery, affirmations, music are all used for psychosomatic wellness.
This leads me to Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water studies that were introduced in the film, What the Bleep Do We Know? Emoto’s work suggests that our intentions, or thoughts, may affect the macroworld. Water is essential to life as we all know. Our bodies are about 70% water as adults, thus Emoto’s research regarding the effects of thoughts, words and music upon water is important to our knowledge about the bodymind connection. Our thoughts and words carry vibrations that are recorded in water—our bodies, in other words.
Too often the words we use and hear are literally spoken without thought. How many times have you blurted something out only to have to eat your words and apologize? What affect did those words have on the listener? Some words make us laugh while others can make us cry. Do the words hurt us or is it the delivery of those words? Are we just too sensitive or is there real power in the words that are spoken to us? Do they hold some power to affect us, and if so, how?
Dr. Emoto started with water because water is life. It cures. The properties of water are also different. When water becomes solid it forms ice crystals. As with snowflakes, no two crystals are the same. Water is such that if we put ice into water, the ice actually floats. Other solid substances in nature do not have this quality. When something is heavy or solid, it tends to sink in water, but not so with ice. Information, thoughts or words, are energy. Water has the ability to record vibration.
With these ideas in mind, Emoto decided to test the effects of words on water. He taped words that were either positive (e.g., “love,” “thank you”) or negative (e.g., “hate,” “you’re ugly”) to bottles of distilled water. In other studies, he exposed the water to different genres of music (classical vs hard rock). After 24 hours of exposure to these various words, pictures and music, he froze the water to see if these conditions had any affect on the crystallization of the water molecules. Strangely enough, the water did respond to these stimuli. The effects were that the positive words, pictures, and classical music resulted in beautifully formed crystals as seen under the microscope. The water that was exposed to negative words, pictures, and hard rock music failed to develop crystals and instead looked dark, murky and misshapen.
Even polluted water that fails to form crystals can be made more “pure” by exposing that water to more positive words, such as “thank you” or “love.” When the water was refrozen and filmed, this time beautiful crystals formed. He also exposed water to classical, Celtic and hard rock music, each having a different effect on the water’s ability to form crystals. Watch and learn about his study here:
Emoto's Water Study
The implications from the results of his work reminds us that we need to be more aware of what we expose ourselves to: the people we hang out with, the thoughts that we have, the movies we watch, the articles we read, the music we listen to—words, thoughts, music. We are affected by the words of others at a molecular level. We are affected by the music we listen to at the molecular level. We are affected by the things we view. As one of the actors stated in the film, What the Bleep Do We Know?!?!?, “if words can affect water in such a way, imagine what our thoughts must do to our bodies.” Give that some thought.
Namaste 🙏🏼
Dr. Sharon
Music Credit Acknowledgment:
https://uppbeat.io/t/rahul-popawala/north-indian-alleys
(This is an updated article, originally published 10-18-23)
Thanks for reading Dr. Sharon’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sjoyng611.substack.com
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By Dr. Sharon Joy NgBe “aware” of your thoughts and words…
Many of us can remember using that phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” We felt protected by that phrase. When kids called us names, we could shout out that phrase and feel that we had diffused the effects of what they had said. Like magic, we had turned hurtful words into nothing. Wasn’t it great being a kid?
Fast forward to today. Science has revealed that there is a definite connection among all aspects of our being. Over the years we learned that words did hurt us. Maybe they didn’t cause any visible physical damage, but what about our feelings? It didn’t take us long to learn that those hurtful words did have an effect on us, after all-- words DO matter. We think that words matter because of etiquette and social intelligence, so we choose our words carefully when forming our ideas to express. We know on an intuitive level that the words we use will either have a positive, negative, or neutral effect, depending on the audience and circumstances. Which words hurt and which ones heal? Is there a way to tell the difference?
Not that long ago, it was believed that the body and mind were separate with no crosstalk between the two. As researchers began diving deeper into consciousness research, there was a revival in the field of psychology as it originated in the late 1800’s. That early research focused on exploring consciousness, seeking to understand its functions and structure. Researchers hoped to better understand the nature and structure of human thought, but the methods used required a subjective approach, resulting in limited hard data. Psychology as a discipline was in its infancy and strived to become a science among peers, thus consciousness research was essentially set aside to make room for other approaches, like behaviorism, that yielded more hard data.
Research in the field of Energy Psychology has broadened how we view consciousness. We are energy. After all, we measure “life” by brainwaves and heartbeats—both of which are facilitated by the chemical and electrical nature of our physiology. Traditional treatments for human conditions, such as mental imbalances or physical ailments, are met with little pills that are chemicals synthesized to interact and hopefully, to alleviate symptoms within the body and mind. Some treatments have and are using electrical impulses, or shocks, to regulate bodily systems. Think of how the heart is shocked back into rhythm using electrical currents, or how in the past, electroconvulsive therapy was widely used to “shock” a person out of their depression or behaviors that were considered abnormal. It is not surprising to find medicine cabinets filled with various chemical concoctions prescribed for various conditions.
In 2004, I attended a conference in Santa Monica, CA where a number of consciousness researchers gathered to discuss the implications of the film, What the Bleep Do We Know? The speakers at this conference consisted of quantum physicists, molecular biologists, psychologists and a water researcher. They discussed the nature of consciousness and reality and the power of the mind to actually affect the world around us. I encourage all of you to watch the film to discover the secrets of consciousness revealed in “What the Bleep Do We Know?!?!?!” This is a link to that video:
What The Bleep Do We Know?
One of the speakers was the late, well-known molecular biologist, Candace Pert. Dr. Pert taught at Georgetown University and was the person credited with discovering the brain’s opiate receptor sites which are responsible for endorphin production. In one of her books, The Molecules of Emotion, she wrote that our emotional states create a chemical cocktail feeding that emotional state. Our altered emotions are mediated by the neurochemistry in our brain and bodies. The interactions between the body and mind are referred to as the ”bodymind” connection. The term indicates that we cannot separate the body from the mind because of the interactive effects between the two. What we do to our bodies affects our mind. Conversely, what we think about impacts our bodily functions and therefore, health.
Molecules of emotion are everywhere throughout the body, not just in the brain. The combination of the neurochemicals secreted when we experience our emotions are similar to different cocktails, and their syntheses create particular mental states. At the biological and physiological level, our brain forms neural connections that wire together. Neurons that wire together, fire together. When these same emotions are repeated over and over again, we become “addicted” to that chemical rush. Like addicts, we somehow create circumstances that activate the cascade of chemicals, satisfying our craving for the moment. We become predisposed to repeat those emotions again and again in similar circumstances—a reactionary pattern if you will—a habit.
Our emotions trigger our subconscious personalities through this interaction of neurochemicals and our focus of attention. The body acts as our subconscious mind because our bodies become used to the neurochemical combinations produced whenever we experience any emotional state. Like an addict, this produces a need for future release of the same chemical combinations so we can get our “fix.” In the film, What the Bleep Do We Know, Pert discussed the effects of our emotions upon the neural networks established in the brain. The more we feel or allow an emotion to arise, the stronger the connections become in that neural network.
When we allow past experiences to color the way we interpret the present situation, we strengthen the neural connections that keep us in compulsive behaviors regardless of whether the emotions are appropriate for the situation or not. This suggests that if we are to overcome negative emotions, we have to break the cycle. We have to take action to prevent that neural network from firing through our conscious intervention of the process. We notice it arising and stop it in its tracks, becoming the observer rather than the actor. Similar to what I have described in previous articles, we learn to not add stories to what is happening and try to just see it as it is. To Be in the Now. We step back and observe. If we do this often enough we can diffuse the neural nets that are activated during those types of situations. We react less and are primed to respond instead.
Another strategy is to laugh. Have you ever noticed that you cannot be mad and laugh at the same time? Laughing is a wonderful way to diffuse any situation and serves to break the negative feelings, emotions, and behaviors that we tend to repeat. It is also a way to build your immunity. In chi kung practices we are taught to laugh out loud as part of our exercises. It’s quite liberating!
When we laugh, meditate, use imagery for healing, listen to certain types of music, or simply say loving things to ourselves, we are affecting the body-mind towards well-being. When we can create a blissful state of consciousness, we are feeling a surge of endorphins. Endorphins create a bliss state. We experience a lack of separation from others and instead experience feelings of union. Prayer, meditation, and affirmations affect consciousness and the molecules in the body-mind. Pert said, “I know forgiving myself and others for errors of the past allows me to heal.” Verbal imagery, affirmations, music are all used for psychosomatic wellness.
This leads me to Dr. Masaru Emoto’s water studies that were introduced in the film, What the Bleep Do We Know? Emoto’s work suggests that our intentions, or thoughts, may affect the macroworld. Water is essential to life as we all know. Our bodies are about 70% water as adults, thus Emoto’s research regarding the effects of thoughts, words and music upon water is important to our knowledge about the bodymind connection. Our thoughts and words carry vibrations that are recorded in water—our bodies, in other words.
Too often the words we use and hear are literally spoken without thought. How many times have you blurted something out only to have to eat your words and apologize? What affect did those words have on the listener? Some words make us laugh while others can make us cry. Do the words hurt us or is it the delivery of those words? Are we just too sensitive or is there real power in the words that are spoken to us? Do they hold some power to affect us, and if so, how?
Dr. Emoto started with water because water is life. It cures. The properties of water are also different. When water becomes solid it forms ice crystals. As with snowflakes, no two crystals are the same. Water is such that if we put ice into water, the ice actually floats. Other solid substances in nature do not have this quality. When something is heavy or solid, it tends to sink in water, but not so with ice. Information, thoughts or words, are energy. Water has the ability to record vibration.
With these ideas in mind, Emoto decided to test the effects of words on water. He taped words that were either positive (e.g., “love,” “thank you”) or negative (e.g., “hate,” “you’re ugly”) to bottles of distilled water. In other studies, he exposed the water to different genres of music (classical vs hard rock). After 24 hours of exposure to these various words, pictures and music, he froze the water to see if these conditions had any affect on the crystallization of the water molecules. Strangely enough, the water did respond to these stimuli. The effects were that the positive words, pictures, and classical music resulted in beautifully formed crystals as seen under the microscope. The water that was exposed to negative words, pictures, and hard rock music failed to develop crystals and instead looked dark, murky and misshapen.
Even polluted water that fails to form crystals can be made more “pure” by exposing that water to more positive words, such as “thank you” or “love.” When the water was refrozen and filmed, this time beautiful crystals formed. He also exposed water to classical, Celtic and hard rock music, each having a different effect on the water’s ability to form crystals. Watch and learn about his study here:
Emoto's Water Study
The implications from the results of his work reminds us that we need to be more aware of what we expose ourselves to: the people we hang out with, the thoughts that we have, the movies we watch, the articles we read, the music we listen to—words, thoughts, music. We are affected by the words of others at a molecular level. We are affected by the music we listen to at the molecular level. We are affected by the things we view. As one of the actors stated in the film, What the Bleep Do We Know?!?!?, “if words can affect water in such a way, imagine what our thoughts must do to our bodies.” Give that some thought.
Namaste 🙏🏼
Dr. Sharon
Music Credit Acknowledgment:
https://uppbeat.io/t/rahul-popawala/north-indian-alleys
(This is an updated article, originally published 10-18-23)
Thanks for reading Dr. Sharon’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sjoyng611.substack.com