Two of the questions we pondered in the Being a Leader course were these:

Is my word generating something new?

Or is it keeping something in place?

I’ve been thinking a lot about these two questions and taking care in my own speaking—my own use of words—to notice what I use them for. I often use them to generate connection, acknowledgment, and transformation. When I do, I feel powerful and free.

I also use words—the same words, over and over again—as an exercise of habit. I say the same things about people, to people, to myself, and about my life. When I do, I feel in control, false, and flat. None of those things are bad, necessarily. They’re just not the same as free, true, and lively.

Today I sent someone an honest and not-so-nice email. It wasn’t hard to write. I’ve been frustrated for some time now, and I needed to say what I needed to say. It also wasn’t as not-so-nice as it could have been. I was somewhat careful with my words, not to keep something hidden, but to avoid generating something I wasn’t intending to generate.

I realized that although my email was not-so-nice, it was generating something new. Nothing I had said had worked so far. Everything I had said had fallen flat. It was time to say something distinct and to tap into some authenticity. I stopped being positive, and I got real. I got an unexpected result almost immediately after I clicked send.

I’ve noticed that in our current fascination with positive thinking, we often use our words to create positivity, gratitude, love, and other ways of being that occur to us as productive and worthwhile. Meanwhile, we limit ourselves from saying things we perceive as negative, fearful, angry, or otherwise. We belief that we can only generate something new by using words and collections of words that are positive. We avoid words we think are negative.

What if we can use any kinds of words to generate something new? What if generating something new is more about authentic expression and less about careful or positive expression?

What would our world look like if our authentic words comprised generative thinking, speaking, and acting?

In love and liminality,

Annie Rose