Important distinctions
and some new words

I recommend you take a few minutes now to understand important new distinctions and essential new words. However, if you want to come back to these later, you can leave this room and enter the room of distinctions, principles, and techniques.

Words that will serve you or shoddy words that will trip you up

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If you want to understand more deeply the quintessential importance of creating and maintaining precision in the words that we use (and that use us), enter this room: Problem with Words.

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Distinctions and toxic words

Most of life's mischief, both within ourselves and in our relationship with others, would be removed if we were clear about the distinctions of the words that we use. I use the phrase toxic words to designate those words that are often used in a toxic way. That is, they create problems for ourselves or others because of their lack of clarity and/or built-in assessment of something being either being good or bad.

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“Right” as a toxic word

Here's an example of a word often used toxically: consider the word “right,” as in “making the right choice.” I often hear a client say, “I want to ensure I am making the right choice.” When I ask, “By what measure, by what criteria, would you know whether or not you had made the ‘right choice’?”, most often my client cannot answer...even though, when they originally spoke, they assumed they knew (and that I knew) what they meant by the words “making the right choice.” Nothing was further from the truth.

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Either get clear about the words you use or, as a minimum, get clear about their lack of clarity

In every room of The 14:24 Guest House will find that I often put emphasis on clarity about the distinctions of specific words and phrases or, at least, to create clarity about their unclarity. Otherwise, you will not be able to understand how to effectively make many of the changes that you would like to make. We take this idea of needed clarity for granted when giving instructions about how to do something physically. if I don’t share a clear understanding with my health advisor of which type of supplement I need to take (both of us thinking we’re clear, but we’re not), then I am not likely to get the desired results. The same need for clarity applies when giving and following suggestive/instructive methods for changing relationship with oneself or with others. Clarity about key distinctions is essential! I have also created two corridors in The 14:24 Guest House devoted to establishing clear distinctions for certain words I use and/or creating clarity about the unclarity of many of the words that are in common use. One corridor is the Word Repair Shop. The other corridor is the Toxic Word room.

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Distinctions for new words and phrases

The 14:24 Guest House introduces some words and abbreviations. These may seem a bit awkward at first, but, as you get used to them, you’ll find them essential.

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Undoing fear (worry, indecision, shyness, stress, perfectionism, and so on)

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Many other words (other than undoing) could have been selected to label the elimination of certain types of issues. For example, instead of using the phrase, "undoing worry," any of the following could have been used:

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• resolving worry

• disappearing worry

• removing worry

• un-worrying

• ending worry

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I decided upon the phrase "undoing worry" since undo implies reversing what has already been done, which is always the method when dealing with resisted fear. Undoing fear means returning fear to its original, unresisted state. Or consider the phrase, "undoing stress." Since almost all stress is an expression of resisted fear, undoing stress means undoing the resisted fear and returning it to its natural state, a state in which you have no stress. You will find this special meaning in all cases where I use the word "undo," as in undoing indecision, undoing perfectionism, and undoing guilt.