We discussed this at a play party a little while back and i thought it was interesting to hear the different peoples take on using a safeword.

Safewords are in place to monitor the safety/mental health of the sub and the Dom/me during play. Many of the subs correlated using a safeword in a negative fashion and were hugely disappointed in themselves after the fact for having to safeword out. So many people are told " Here is your safeword, use it and all play stops, THE END, finished." In my opinion, safewords should not have a negative feeling to them. A sub should never feel disappointed and have residual effects days after having to use one for one reason or another but most do. Crying, subdrop, etc i have heard from many people happen for days after a safeword has been used just for the simple fact they questioned whether they were correct in using it at the time.

How do you regard a safeword?
How do you use a safeword, do you have different levels of safe wording out or does it mean, stop, finished, no more?
How have you felt after using your safword?
Do you let play go to far because you do not want to use the safeword givin to you because you see it as a bad thing?