06 Oct Joy In The Spoken Word

By Duncan Peak

Our language has the ability to change the energy of a room, to inspire a person, to console a friend and also to hurt and condemn people.

The words we choose and the energy we put behind them can be beneficial to others or it can confuse and harm the ones we love.

Our power as people can often be underestimated, overly sensitive as a society, much established by fear, we need to have presence when we speak or things can be misunderstood and taken the wrong way. Do we need to tread on eggshells so that we don’t harm others? No of course not but we do need to make sure our intention and energy behind our communication is correct, to be very clear on what we need to say.

The benefit of being clear in communication and understanding our intention is that we have the opportunity to really help people and make them feel comfortable in our presence, thus, establishing deep connections with all and not letting our ego put walls up around us. We are also able to inspire people’s perspectives towards life to be more positive and loving towards themselves and others.

I remember a story a gifted lady told me once as she was showing me the power and responsibility I have as a teacher with my spoken word:

There was a family sitting on a train carriage in India, a father and his three little boys all under the age of 6. On the carriage with them were a university lecturer, an elderly couple, a young woman and an older man. As the journey got longer the children began to run around the carriage and make lots of noise, bumping into some of the other passengers and disturbing them. This continued for quite a while, the children playing, making lots of noise and the other passengers trying to be peaceful but agitated by the children’s antics and lack of parental supervision.

 After a while, the university lecturer decided that he would speak to the father of the unruly children. He walked over to him and said “Excuse me sir, your children are running around making lots of noise and disturbing us all, could you please make them sit down and be quiet”. The father acknowledge the man and said “I do apologise for the noise but you see, their mother died two weeks ago and the boys have not smiled once since. This is the first time I have seen them play since she passed away, I do not want to stop them as they need to do this for all of us”. The university lecturer felt terrible and said to the man that it was okay for them to play, the other passengers heard this conversation and all of them started to play with the children, asking them to run faster around the cabin, to make more noise and to share as much joy as possible with them.

The power of our spoken word and the energy we have behind our communication can change a situation and people perspective towards life. We all have that responsibility and if we accept that and have poise and consideration for each moment, we can create an abundance of joy in life.

We can’t alter all situations just with our spoken word. Sometimes all we can do is be an example for others with our own personal attitude. When we allow joy to flow freely in all situations (rather than bottling up the moment) we experience a true enlightened way of being. Controlling a situation can be a very poor substitute for surrendering ourselves and getting into the flow of joy in each moment.

“As we train the mind to become more present, joy follows like a loyal shadow that never leaves”.

– Bagavad Gita.