What is an Incantation?
I know what an incantation is to me, but as I write this post, I was curious to see what the official definition was from other sources.
An incantation or enchantment is a charm or spell created using words. … The term derives from Latin “incantare” (tr.), meaning “to chant (a magical spell) upon,” from in- “into, upon” and cantare “to sing”. From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incantation>
British Dictionary definitions for incantation: ritual recitation of magic words or sounds 2. the formulaic words or sounds used; a magic spell. Word Origin from Late Latin incantātiō an enchanting, from incantāre to repeat magic formulas, from Latin, from in- ² + cantāre to sing; From <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/incantation>
My initial response when reading some definitions found online was a little chuckle especially when defining it with ‘spells’ and ‘sorcery’, etc and then I realized that it makes a lot of sense, especially, ‘ritual, recitation, magic words, enchanting’.
My favorite down to earth definition is from an NLP colleague, Jedi Alex Koh, and stated as ‘Incantations are empowering phrases or language patterns that you verbalize audibly and with absolute certainty.’
What’s the Relevance?
So you may be asking what’s the relevance and why am I sharing this with you.
Well, I’d like to tie it back to my NLP post last month, ‘…and the Breakthroughs Continue‘.
Remember I said by changing your state, you can change your behavior and results? Well, an incantation can help you change your state. There is a direct connection between the body and mind and an incantation can help change your physiology and mind.
You are what you think. You are what you speak to and of yourself. Incantations can help recondition your mind and with repetition, you can begin to develop new empowering thoughts, resulting in a new empowering you.
Ever felt tired or bored during the day? Ever found yourself thinking negative thoughts? Need motivation to reach a goal? Ever felt nervous or insecure about giving a presentation?
Use an incantation to help you change your state and to help you focus on what you really want.
Words alone won’t necessary change your state. A good incantation:
Affirms and empowers a new positive belief
Engages you emotionally [has emotional conviction]
Engages you physically
Are repeated daily for at least 10 minutes
As I mentioned in my post ‘Down Under: MacDonnell Ranges & Mereenie Loop‘ in our NLP course we used a simple incantation, which for me is all encompassing one that I use as it suits many purposes for me. It is:
‘All I need is within me now, I am confident, I can do it, YES!’
I took the opportunity on the isolated road trips to get out in the wide open space and shout my incantations out loud, using my physical and emotional force and movements. Yes, I do incantations wherever I am most every day, but this was a special opportunity to shout it to the world.
If you’d like to learn more about incantations, there are a couple of links below I found useful, plus a link to Jedi’s book, The Power of Incantation, which I found to be an easy read.
Happy Journeys.
Joanne
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