“Words inform the world in which we inhabit. Words create our stories. Stories create our reality. Reality creates our destiny.” — Mark England

Words are near and dear to my heart because they intersect three of my life’s greatest passions: storytelling, meditation and communication. I believe the study of words is critical to my development as a human being and essential to the overall evolution of human consciousness.

The importance of words just keep showing up in different phases of my life. When writing my thru-hiking memoir, I sought to improve my language and better transmute my thoughts and feelings by reading books like The Elements of Style. From intensive silent meditation retreats, I noticed how my mind was filled with nothing but language, and how words were the building blocks to my thoughts, my story and my identity. When I started podcasting, my words led to conflict and peace, depending on how skillfully I used them. It became clear: words shape our reality and ultimately, our destiny.

When I discovered (actually, I was told) that Mark England’s online course Procabulary: Core Language Upgrade took aim at resolving language issues, I took action. Having recently completed the course, I’ll share a bit about what I learned and offer a recommendation.

WHAT IS PROCABULARY?

Procabulary: Core Language Upgrade is the language programming necessary to survive and thrive in today’s society. Mark England, the course’s founder, states its purpose is to reduce unnecessary drama and conflict in the world by 1%. After taking the course myself, I believe the course achieves this goal. Procabulary offers useful conceptual frameworks to think about language as well as practical examples of how to reduce internal and external conflict. It’s for those looking to improve their lives, relationships and shift their worldview. It’s one of those tools that once you know it, you see it everywhere, and you can’t go back. And it’s all for the better.

The program is made up of twenty-one five-minute modules with supplemental worksheets and broken up into three sections: Procabulary at Home, Work and with Internal Dialogue. Pacing is up to you. You can work through the course in a few sittings, across the recommended three weeks or at your own pace. Personally, it took me a dozen sittings to complete across a few months because I left the course and returned to it after travels–a good sign, as I rarely return to the things I abandon.

THE CORE PROCABULARY TEACHING

Just to give you a taste of the program and what I learned from Mark, he starts by identifying two types of language: conflict and architect.

I like to think of these two language types as buckets and myself as standing beneath a tree. When I’m communicating, I imagine myself reaching up, picking apples and sorting them into these two buckets. Rotten apples go into the conflict bucket. Ripe, juicy apples go into the architect bucket. The goal is to feed myself with language that serves me and discard the language which causes conflict.

You know which type of apple goes in which bucket because each type of language has three defining characteristics. Conflict language includes soft talk, negations and projections. Architect language includes solid talk, affirmations and reflections.

The good news is that the rotten apples can be salvaged by using translations. Translations take us from rotten apples (conflict language) into ripe apples (architect language). I’ve come up with three examples

What I’ve described is just the tip of the iceberg. I recommend taking the course for the full experience.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP

Procabulary is one of the most profound and impactful online courses I’ve completed (thanks, Mark!) and I highly recommend it to those wanting to invest in themselves. This course made it clear to me the ways in which I create unintentional conflict through imprecise language, how I can fix these issues systematically and start speaking words that shape my destiny/destination. If you decide to take the next step and purchase the course, it will do the same for you.