Your Words Are Your Wand: Wordcraft for the Body, Mind, and Spirit

A conversation with Maureen Drury: spiritual botanist, renaissance woman, and endlessly curious student of life.

We began talking, appropriately enough, about plants. We talked about the importance of speaking to our plants with love. Maureen shared research suggesting that plants are far more responsive to their environments than we once believed. They can detect changes in light, touch, sound, chemicals, and even signals from neighboring plants. Maureen believes there is much more to the conversation between humans and plants than we currently understand.

Then she said something that made me pause. 

How many people casually say, “I’m just not good with plants. They always die on me”? 

What if we paid closer attention to the words we think and speak? 

What if the words we choose become active participants in the stories we live? 

Would we want to keep saying, “I’m just not good with plants. They always die on me”? 

Florence Scovel Shinn, in The Game of Life and How to Play It, and Napoleon Hill, in Think and Grow Rich, both explored the profound relationship between our thoughts, words, beliefs, and the experiences we create. Their work invites us to consider that our inner dialogue is not simply background noise. It can become a blueprint for the way we see ourselves, the world around us, and even the living things with which we share that world. 

I understood what Maureen meant because there was a time when I certainly did not consider myself a gifted plant caregiver, in either words or deeds. 

Then she gave me a simple piece of advice: 

Once a week, put your plants in the bathtub and give them a very generous drink of water. Then let them drain without rushing. 

Most plants, she told me, simply aren’t getting enough water. 

That was a lesson I could understand. 

Words Are Powerful 

Our conversation moved from plants to the work of Masaru Emoto, who became widely known for his experiments involving water, words, thoughts, music, and intention. 

Emoto proposed that words, thoughts, and intentions could influence water. In his experiments, water was exposed to different words or music, frozen, and then photographed as ice crystals. 

He reported that water exposed to loving, positive words produced beautiful, intricate, soft-looking crystals, while water exposed to harsh or negative words formed jagged, sharp structures that looked almost like shards of glass. 

At this point in our conversation, Maureen and I smiled at one another because we both believe our thoughts and words are extraordinarily powerful. 

Body of Wisdom 

After we smiled, Maureen asked me if I had ever experienced the power of words when working with clients. 

I had a client come to mind before she had even finished asking the question. 

I told Maureen a story about a woman I worked with years ago. I’ll call her Mary. 

Mary came to me deeply distressed about her body. It was clear that she wasn’t simply looking for a better fitness routine. She was struggling with the experience of living inside her own body. I needed to find a way to meet her where she was and guide her toward where she wanted to be. 

As we talked, two words came to me: Stored fuel. 

I explained that my job was to help her learn how to use movement and exercise to utilize her stored fuel. I deliberately did not use the word she had been using to describe her body. 

Something shifted. 

Her expression changed. Curiosity replaced judgment. The conversation began moving away from shame and toward possibility, and her journey toward creating a loved home for her soul went more smoothly than she ever expected. 

That moment stayed with me. 

What are our words doing for our bodies, minds, spirits, and lives? 

A Different Word Can Make a Difference 

Maureen and I began exploring the idea that sometimes using a single word can change the way we experience an entire situation. That can be especially powerful when we are working through difficult experiences. 

Feather Up for the Foolery* 

We’ve spoken before about the armor people develop to protect themselves. 

Sometimes people pass their pain from one person to another, creating wounds that travel farther than they ever should. When we have been hurt by someone who has not learned how to manage their own emotions, we may find ourselves carrying the consequences. 

As much as that armor can help us survive, it can eventually become too heavy to wear, especially when we’re ready to move beyond survival and into a life we love. 

Maureen gave me one of my favorite phrases: 

“Feather up for the Foolery.” 

I have carried those words into my work and into my daily mantra: 

I am grounded. I am centered. I am steady. I am safe. And I am certainly feathered up for any foolery that chooses to float my way. 

I am not a therapist. I am a Life Coach and Women’s Midlife Doula. My work is centered on helping people move forward. Sometimes, however, moving forward requires us to glance into the rearview mirror. 

We may need to take a brief look at an experience that caused pain. We may need to acknowledge it, name it, and understand it. We may need to remember that we have a choice in the language we use to hold the experience. 

For one person, the word might be foolery. 

For someone else, shenanigans. 

For another, simply nonsense. 

The word does not erase what happened. It does not diminish the pain. And it certainly does not make trauma insignificant. 

The goal is not to erase the past. It’s to change our relationship with the story we carry from it. 

Sometimes a single new word creates just enough distance for us to breathe. Instead of remaining trapped inside the story, we can begin to recognize ourselves as the person who lived through it. We get to see it from outside the snow globe instead of being stuck inside. 

We move from victim to champion. By doing so, we stop allowing an old experience to continually pull us back into the moment it happened. By standing as the champion of our own story, we can remember the past without continuing to live there. 

What Story Are You Creating? 

The next time you need to vent to a friend or work with a professional, I encourage you to become conscious of the words you choose. 

If you’re having difficulty getting calm and/or clear, allow your eyes to gaze upon something peaceful, like Maureen's Emoscape:

Focus on your breathing. Then repeat: 

I am here now. 

And now, with a new sense of calm, you can experiment with finding a new word to use when you need to revisit challenging experiences. 

What feels right for you? Shenanigans? Nonsense? Perhaps something else?

Our bodies, minds, and spirits are interconnected. The words that swirl through our minds and leave our mouths matter. 

Those words become stories. The stories we repeat can either keep our spirits anchored in an old version of ourselves or open the door to a new story, one rooted in possibility, health, and well-being. 

And Then There Was the Snake Plant 

As always, I loved my time with Maureen. Before we went our separate ways, I had one final question. 

“What is the easiest plant for someone to take care of?” 

“Snake plant. It doesn’t need much water. It doesn’t require a great deal of sunlight. Its tall leaves rise from the pot like soldiers standing at attention. And it is often associated with improving indoor air quality."

Personally, I love my snake plants so much that I have two. Every time I look at those strong, upright leaves, they remind me of something: 

We are powerful. 

Our words are powerful. 

Our thoughts are powerful. 

The stories we tell ourselves are powerful. 

So choose them with intention, my dear readers. Speak to yourself the way you would speak to a plant you desperately wanted to see flourish. 

Give yourself water. 

Give yourself light. 

Give yourself loving words. 

And when life brings you some foolery? 

Feather up and remember that everything is working out for you!  Because your words are your wand, and every word you choose is a little bit of magick shaping the life you are learning to love. 

*Feel free to substitute the -ool with -uck for oomph!

Maureen Drury is the creative force behind Drury Studio & Design, where fine art meets fine landscaping. Her work reflects a natural instinct for finding beauty, creating with intention, and bringing art into the spaces where we live.
Maureen has also been recognized by artist and creator Martyn Thompson in Paris Vogue as an inspiration and a distinguished voice in the world of landscape design.

“Like a bee to a flower, I just can’t help myself.”

Kathleen Alnwick is a Life Coach, coach,Women’s Midlife Doula, and author of Borrow My Tribe: Women’s Wisdom From Your Chosen Sisters. In addition to supporting her clients, she’s all about family, friends, fur babies, and feeding her creative spirit. She loves kick-ass deadlift sessions, sinfully delicious chocolate, and dancing. To learn more pay her a visit at soulrisingwellness.net.