Bear Grylls has long been an advocate for positivity and mental health. He has authored a book on mental health, and part of his prerogative is to simply replace words for positive effects.
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One such turnaround was using “opportunity clock” to replace “alarm clock.”
“My family takes the mick out of me a lot for the ‘opportunity clock’, but language is important,” Grylls told The Telegraph. “How we speak to each other and ourselves is important. Words have power. It’s a choice to speak kindly and positively.”
In Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Each Day, Grylls draws back on his survival exploits to illustrate useful points. He has aimed to share a range of tips that he has used to overcome his own fear. Grylls believes that even the words we use can limit ourselves from finding success in everyday life.
He is not alone. Not by a longshot.
Despite his family making fun of him, scientists have his back.
Abdullah Boulad is sleep expert and founder of The Balance. He told Stylist that he believes in exactly what Grylls is doing.
“Our language shapes how our inner world interprets the outer and defines our relationships with it,” he said. “Though these changes in language may seem trivial, they can actually have the power to make big perceptive shifts.”
There have been countless studies to support the power of positive mental imaging. Athletes are often coached to picture success and manifest how it will happen.
Survivalists, like Grylls, also need to rely on a positive mental game. Training of the mind is not too dissimilar to training of the body.
“You might go to the gym, but doing something for your mental fitness is important as well,” Grylls told the Radio Times. “It doesn’t have to be hours of meditation, but five minutes of practical, simple things. Then you steadily build up robustness and strength over time.”
A positive mind has been speculated to be a direct path to a positive life. It is not too similar to the belief system taught in The Secret. Martin Seeley, CEO and sleep expert at MattressNextDay is also invested in letting your words line up your actions. He told Salon that words do have power.
“The word ‘alarm’ is negative, with the dictionary stating that it means ‘an anxious awareness of danger’,” he said. “Combining this with the fact that an alarm clock essentially screams at you at a time when you may be deep in sleep, it’s extremely understandable why so many people feel that they don’t work for them from a mental perspective.”
So there it is. Change your life by changing the words you choose. A good place to start — even if your family laughs — is your opportunity clock.
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Mind Fuel: Simple Ways to Build Mental Resilience Each Day is available now, you can order it at this link.
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