We’re living through a period of rancid word salad.

Like when pulling the baby spring lettuce you bought last year from the back of your fridge – what once was green and vibrant is now brown, drippy, and moldy.

That baby lettuce is dead.

Admittedly, some of the tactics we witness from the DC machine of word alcedama, hold enough gas to light up a small city, but, there’s a way within your brain to cleanse the words.

Yes, you are a word launderer.

A mental salad spinner that can gyrate the distress out of your harmful self-talk.

Listen, salad spinners were a big thing in the 70s and 80s.

Here are five ways to spin SPIN words to your advantage:

1. LESSONS vs. GIFTS – A lesson seemingly sounds bad. We tend to use the word negatively. “Boy, I learned my lesson.” But every LESSON is indeed a GIFT. Even a terrible LESSON is a huge GIFT to self-growth. Marcus Aurelius lamented – “Convince yourself that everything is a gift from the gods.”
2. CHORES vs. ACCOMPLISHMENTS – I get a big kick out of little things. Doing laundry, vacuuming, sweeping up the patio because I focus on the END RESULTS. Clean sheets accomplish better rest, vacuuming creates those lines in the carpet that keep me sane. Sweeping the patio clears debris so my pups can walk more easily.
3. LAZY vs. RECHARGE – We don’t spend enough time recharging our internal batteries. Taking a nap, getting away for a quiet lunch or reading are ways to ease the pressure. From Daily Stoic – “The mind must be given relaxation,” Seneca said, “it will rise improved and sharper after a good break. Just as rich fields must not be forced… so constant work on the anvil will fracture the force of the mind.”
4. OLD vs. EXPERIENCED – Personally, I disdain the word OLD. To me, it smells of giving up. It’s an excuse not to try. Mind-limiting nonsense. If you speak the word old you’ll do old things. You’ll place tight boundaries around your physical and mental growth.
5. SETBACK vs. BLESSING – A chronic ailment, a physical illness, every setback must spin out of your head as a blessing. Reframing setbacks as blessings leads to resiliency to face challenges. Years ago, I lost a kidney due to high blood pressure from stress during a civil lawsuit. Today, my overall kidney function is within normal limits, my weight is off 40 pounds, I exercise hard on a regular basis and my diet over the last 5 years is primarily plant-based. I’ve never been so healthy and I probably wouldn’t have been if the blessing of losing a kidney hadn’t catapulted me to a more robust physical health regimen.

Words can make or break your spirit. Especially today.

Use them wisely to reframe your mindset.

Be a word spinner.