Language of kindness

How do I speak to myself? Or to others? Really, the words I choose. Spoken or unspoken.

Kindness is "a way of honoring and supporting one another’s vulnerabilities, acknowledging our need for others and our human frailties," says Dr. Dan Siegel. "Being kind to ourselves and others means caring for each other’s most vulnerable ways of being."

This tenderness. A way to speak then. Our wild heart gets it. A sensitivity to the energy and information of words, the space that opens beyond them. Or not. We have always known, from the inside out, the pain of spaces closing down, this aching. Just because of what we say. Walls going up. The heart runs deep with compassion, with joy: Because it knows. Knows this awesome gift: Kindness in language. I respect myself. I respect you.

Words focus our attention. Their energy hardens or opens things. Words and the spaces beyond words affect our nervous system, our state of mind. References, meaning. Sounds, silence. Brittle words - hate, pain, stupid. Fluid ones - love, ease, wellbeing. Courage, a word seeing the heart. We may not always feel fluid in ourselves, with each other, but even just noticing this allows a bit of space.

Clarity. Space. Forgiveness too. The language of kindness, choices. Shall we speak?

credit: ian stauffer | unsplash: language of kindness