The Kotodama Effect: How Negative Language Can Invade Your Subconscious and Affect Your Life

Learn from the Japanese concept of "Kotodama": Negative suggestive language can invade your subconscious at any time

Unlike facial expressions or small movements people are accustomed to making, verbal tics have a significant impact because they can change a person's personality and behavior. You may think, "Isn't that an exaggeration?" but it is actually a fact.

There is a belief in Japan called "Kotodama" that refers to the idea that words themselves have a soul. For example, if you complain and vent every day saying "I feel bored every day," you will really begin to think that everything is becoming more and more boring, and eventually become a lifeless and uninteresting person.

This phenomenon is called the "Kotodama effect." According to social theory, if you implant such vivid negative suggestions into your subconscious, this force will seriously affect your survival instinct and even reduce your life energy.

The Law of Attraction emphasizes the power of positive subconscious language hints. In the concept of "The Law of Attraction," the same argument is also mentioned. If you want to make your wishes come true, positive and affirmative declarations are essential. By constantly repeating these declarations, positive thinking can penetrate into the subconscious and have an effect. For example, if your declaration is "I want to be a rich person," it means that you still have the idea of "poverty" deeply ingrained in your mind. Therefore, you can change the sentence to the present tense and change the declaration to "Money is always flowing towards me," and you will gradually see the effect.

Be aware of the use of negative words like "Anyway", "As expected", "Can't do anything", "Helpless", etc. If you use these complaints with a sense of giving up as verbal tics, you will gradually kill your own possibilities in the future. We must be careful of our verbal tics because negative suggestive language can invade your subconscious at any time.

You can try this good method: ask people around you to see if you have any negative verbal tics, and you may get unexpected answers.

"If I may say so, your verbal tic is that no matter what problem you encounter, you always say 'I will try my best to do it,' but you don't really want to 'try your best to do it.' You just superficially think that saying this line will gain the trust of others. I think your 'I will try my best to do it' sounds like an irresponsible "Get out of jail free" line."

If the people around you respond with sharp words that see through you, you really need to find a way to seal up your bad verbal tics.

Possible psychological states behind commonly used verbal tics: "I see"

People who use verbal tics are actually very stubborn. Verbal tics are deeply related to personality and behavioral habits. Here are some characteristic verbal tics and their implicit personality traits. Please refer to them.

  • "Eat shit", "Damn": Immature personality, impatient, emotional, and lacking a calm mind.
  • "Well, I think": Lacks confidence, wants to have companions, has a strong desire to rely on others, and has a coquettish personality.
  • "I see": Appears to agree with others but actually insists on their own opinions.
  • "Speaking of which": Childish and capricious, sticking to their own opinions, self-centered.
  • "As expected", "Really": Optimistic person who lacks careful thought and planning.
  • "Let me think": Resolute refusal, stubbornness, and a lack of coordination.
  • "I'm busy": Emphasizing self-existence, attracting attention, and at the same time being quite afraid of loneliness.
  • "Generally speaking", "According to common sense": Saying that one's own opinions are common sense, stubborn and self-willed.
  • "By the way": A caring and knowledgeable person who likes to show off, talkative personality.
  • "To put it simply": Dislikes troublesome things, lacks patience, likes to control the situation, and has a leadership personality.
  • "However": Negative thinker, loves oneself more. Indecisive, likes to stay in their own small world.
  • "That's right": Expressing agreement with others, but actually has a strong independent personality insisting on their own opinions.
  • "Weird": Lacks confidence in their own ideas but does not want to be denied by others, weak personality.
  • "Let's do this first": Type that does not want to take responsibility even if they make mistakes or fail, pacifist.
  • "Compared to": Believes strongly in something, tends to be suspicious, narrow-minded.
  • "It seems": The type of child who is easy to rely on others, dislikes troublesome things.

(The content of this article excerpt is from "The Most Powerful Psychology that is Effective to the Point of Being Addictive: 45 Psychological Skills to Beware of Addictive Abuse and Beware of Addiction")


James Huang August 11, 2024
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