Imagine if you could touch a rose bud and make it bloom. If you could clear away a storm with a wave of your hand. If you could use your words to make someone feel enveloped in your love. If you could be the arms that lifted someone up. If you could be the catalyst to growth that someone is looking for but doesn’t know how to find.
You don’t have to imagine. You can do all of these things. Well except maybe the first too. But it’s nice to dream too.
I quote my mom Julia on the home page of my blog for a reason. “The things we leave unsaid are the sins of our lives.” This is the truth from which my true generosity stems.
Words have power. We can use them to drive change. To inspire. To heal. To teach. To connect. We have this gift of language and communication and we can leverage it in our own unique ways to do good things in this life.
But we can also use words to have the opposite effect. To harm. To demean. To manipulate. To inspire fear and anxiety.
But there’s another way we can do harm. And that’s by NOT using our words. By not saying that thing that might help someone. Making them feel less alone. Comforting them. Motivating them. Encouraging them. Helping them to see themselves in a kinder gentler light.
This even more than the first is the true sin. If we don’t say the things we know can light someone’s fire and create connection or give love we deprive the world and the people in it of our gifts.
I’m not saying it’s easy. When we speak our positive truths to the world we put ourselves on display for potential ridicule. We become vulnerable. But I’ll tell you what I’ve never regretted the nice things I’ve said and regretted all the mean ones I have. And it feels better to contribute to the loving noise rather than the negativity that pours into our daily feeds ever more and more.
