pause

We all have a voice. There are countless adjectives to describe the array of colors that emerge from each person’s mouth. The formation of sounds becoming vibrations within the vocal chords can be described as booming, quiet, fierce, soft, boisterous, whiny, gentle, strong, sly, bold, crafty, valiant, silly, calculating, spirited, reckless, tender, shifty, feisty, tired, modest, timid, and the list goes on. These adjectives describing the sounds, in conjunction with the words we choose to say, carry a message from every single human being.

What you say, and how you say it matters. Your voice and your words carry energy. During a year that is testing our human existence, I’m remembering the energy of my voice.

I do my best to practice the art of taking a sacred pause before speaking. This gives me the chance to choose my words, and how I voice them wisely. It is a practice. I constantly return to noticing my breath, to feeling grounded in my body, and allowing for a few awkward moments to collect my thoughts. I fail a lot. And I return over and over to the practice of the pause.

The world does not need any more noise. It is begging for thoughtful kindness, for no other reason than we have the ability, and the responsibility, to bring forward that kind of energy into our world.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

Mother Theresa