"I Hate __________"

Fill in the blank. Whatever it is, might it be possible for us to eliminate the word hate from our vocabularies?

Up until about 15 years ago, I was a champion user of this word. In fact, for effect, I would often overly exaggerate it, backing it up with great power and emotion, none of which I can easily convey in this format. Like most everyone else, my use of it was an expression, a colloquialism, and I never thought twice about it. Often, it was just funny. But then I started working with these Spiritual Workout concepts more and more and the idea that the law of attraction is always on made me see that I was only attracting more hate or, at least, negativity to myself in one way or another. I was learning that the vibration of that word was, actually, quite low and slow and, well, unpleasant. Everything is energy. I also began to see that my choice to express it so readily was, for all intents and purposes, quite unconscious.

So quietly, I began to break my habit of saying it all the time. Then I began to kinda sorta respond to others' expressions of it. "Hate is such a strong word," I would say, with varying responses. I wasn't on a crusade or anything, I would just drop that thought into the conversation. Eventually I had pretty much eliminated the word from my vocabulary - it's possible! - and then spent a few days with friends I've known since childhood in the general vicinity of where I grew up. This family of four, like almost everyone I know, used the word all the time - just like when I was growing up - and it began to sound normal again.

I went on after that to spend a couple of days with my brother, his wife, and their five year old daughter. On our way to dinner one night I heard the word fly out of my mouth like it used to in reference to something that had happened when Niece piped up: "Uncle Steven, we don't say that word in our family. We say we love it when that doesn't happen." Brilliant, I thought. Not only was I hyper conscious of how odd it felt to utter that word again, not only was I called on it in real time by a five-year-old, but I also had a fantastic tool I could use with others - and that's what I did. I began, when a friend would say something like "I hate when she does that" just saying for my own enjoyment and amusement, "I love it when she doesn't do that." People often caught on and a few times - much to my surprise - I have been credited with "getting" someone to stop using that word.

No judgment, people. It's not about that. It's about energy and vibration and frequency and the knowledge that the law of attraction is always on and that we always get more and more of what we think and talk about - and feel about - and so why sign up for more and more hate and all that goes with it?