Are You Digging Your Grave With Your Mouth?

It was 25 years ago when I first heard that question. Bob Proctor stood on a stage, I was eagerly sitting in the audience and he asked the question: Are you digging your grave with your mouth?

I must admit, the first time I heard that question I thought "how morbid!" and "what kind of a question is that?" I was personally stunned -- until I really started to evaluate some of the things that I had been doing that may have supported that behavior.

But, really start to think about it for a moment. Are you digging your grave with your mouth? Are you doing things that may be knocking time off of your life?

Recently I was doing some research for a client and I came upon a statistic that said the following: "If you are overweight by the time you reach 40 years of age, you will take 3 years off of your life." Now, wouldn't that get your attention? Since 1980 the number of overweight people in the North America has increased at an alarming rate. And, apparently, numerous studies show that, based on the way we feed our children today, 1/3 of all of the children will grow up and be diabetic. Now, that has to grab your attention.

But, it is more than what we eat that can have a detrimenal affect on the length of our life. What about the use of alcohol? Or cigarettes? Or narcotics? Or other drugs? What about the compounded impact of taking a prescription drug over a long period of time - are you aware of the implications of that? What about a combination of any of the items listed above?

What if we started to evaluate what we put in our mouth, and, asked the question: "Am I digging my grave with my mouth?" just before you sink your teeth into that delicious hot fudge sundae? As I was preparing to write this article, and became more aware of the implications of this, I noticed a change in my own dietary choices. Having this question in the forefront of my thoughts, caused me to make some very different decisions. You may want to consider doing the same.

Unhealthy eating, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, taking drugs are not the only things that are harmful to our well-being. What are the other things that we may be doing (or have done) that might cause us to s-l-o-w-l-y dig our graves with our mouths?
There are 5 very strong responses that immediately come to mind:

Negative self talk
Verbal abuse
Use of profane language
Criticism of others
Negativity (in general)

All of these things, and more can hurt us.

I know many years ago that when Bob Proctor had asked the question about digging our graves with our mouth, he, too, was referring to the 5 responses mentioned above (negative self talk; verbal abuse; use of profane language; criticism and general negativity). Start to notice the input and output from your mouth. Monitor and adjust, if necessary.

Nourish your mind, body and soul with your mouth - with healthy foods and liquids and with the language of self-love. Nourish another with the language of love and with words of praise.

Stop the digging and start living!

Peggy McColl
http://www.destinies.com
Author of On Being...The Creator of Your Destiny
The 8 Proven Secrets to SMART Success
On Being a Dog with a Bone