By WALLY AMOS

The Power In Words

In my book, “The Power In You: Ten Secret Ingredients for Inner Strength,” I write about the power in our words. I talk about “plus” words, words that encourage and “minus” words, words that destroy. In order to succeed we need plus words. Words, whether spoken to you or by others, are powerful and can make or break a person. Recently, someone sent me the following story that is a strong case for giving positive support.

“A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the unfortunate frogs they would never get out. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit.

 “The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and simply gave up. He fell down and died.

“The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and suffering and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs asked him, “Why did you continue jumping? Didn’t you hear us?

“The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.”

There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day. A destructive word to someone who is down can cause his or her death. Be careful of what you say and remember, that like sugar that has dissolved in water, once our words leave our mouth they cannot be returned. Speak plus words.

Wally Amos lives in Lanikai. Amos is best known as the creator of the “Famous Amos” brand of chocolate chip cookie. In Kailua, Wally and Christine Amos have opened a retail store at 609 Kailua Road in Kailua for “Chip & Cookie,” the literacy dolls, home-made cookies and family reading programs they created. Visit www.chipandcookie.com.