Just as our computer has a hardware (the machine) and a software (the programming), so we function in the same way. Our body is the hardware, the machine. It needs movement, food, hydration and rest to function. What is truly fascinating, is our software: the thoughts, emotions, cognitions and beliefs that inhabit us, that constitute the breath of life in the clay that is our body and that makes us, us.

And just as our computer can do more or less things, and different things, depending on the software it has installed, so we are limited or freed by our operating system.

Continuing with the same metaphor, the computer speaks first of all in binary language, in zeros and ones. What about us? We think, feel and function based on the language we use. Words are the basis, the primary element that allows us to make sense of the world. It is through words that we communicate with others, but also, and above all, with ourselves. What we say, the words we use, have a primary importance on our mood, our emotional state, and our ability to motivate ourselves to action.

For example, if I get up in the morning telling myself “I have to go to work, another day of rat race, off I go into that jungle again…” how do you think my emotional state will be? What if instead of telling me that, I say instead, “I get to go to work, because I have one!”, “what challenge will I be able to overcome today, how will I be able to apply my creativity,…”. How will these new words influence the way I will face the day, my emotions and mood? Certainly with these words I will feel more curious, more motivated, less fatalistic and more open to the world and to others. And, going one step further, with these new thoughts and emotions, my behaviors will also change.

Going back to the computer metaphor: just as we regularly have to update software to improve

security, we can also update our operating system by changing our language.