Have you ever seen a blue slushie melted? I have. It was sitting on a riverside path, discarded, the morning after the night before. Contemplating that this is actually a drink almost put me into a head spin. The bright blue colour implies a kind of metallic taste of pure toxicity. I can’t believe people pay to drink this. OK so now I have probably lost the blue slushie drinking segment of our readership but I’ll press on. I’ve been thinking about what passes our lips.
Our mouth is not a one-way path in and down
Sipping fine champagne, gobbling up gooey chocolate fudge brownies…and swigging blue slushies. Stuff comes out of our mouths and passes our lips into the world. And it is this direction I am paying attention to. What passes our lips and goes out into the world? What WORDS pass our lips and are delivered to the atmosphere around us? Do you have a diligent gatekeeper for your outpouring gob? You might like to think you have until a driver cuts you up on the road or you hit your thumb with a hammer. All manner of expletives and blame can spill out unchecked by your gatekeeper who turned his back for just one moment. Or maybe he feels your pain and passes these words with justification. “That idiot just stepped out into the road without looking. They deserve to be yelled at!”
Imagine this vitriolic vocabulary had a hue
Let’s say blue, to keep with the theme. We could see the air turn blue as we cussed and blinded and it might trigger us to cool it, calm down and watch our words. But our words cannot be seen as a colour. Out they go past our lips into the air that others breathe in. With so much self-help and well-meaning messages of inspirational wisdom being spoken to us and at us we know the power of words. From ‘no’ and ‘enough’ to ‘I love you’ and ‘it’s a boy’ words can empower us, stop us, make us cry and bring on side-splitting giggles. Listening to the news and comments on social media today, however, leaves me speechless. I find myself thinking: “I cannot believe what I’ve just heard someone say.” Of course, disbelieving our ears has been the case since we got our tongues around language, so maybe it’s the eons of inherited generations that’s leaving me withered with what people can say. But geez, some stuff-and-nonsense does come out of their mouths whether they are a preacher, prosecutor or politician.
These words are then out in the public domain
They’ve passed the lips of their originator. They come laden with the feelings of the person who said them. If they’re angry or damning or revolting or hurtful or untrue they foul the mouth of the speaker, foul the air in which they land and infect those they’re spoken to or around. If you overhear someone at work slagging off their partner, or you’re in the company of someone spouting off about an issue that far from aligns with your values or ethics, it’s mighty uncomfortable and your inner voice has a lot to say to you about it in the privacy of your own mind. On the contrary when you hear compassion being spoken, loving words, kind words, encouraging comments, memories and musings of a life well spent, you feel heart-warmed and inspired.
As Mahatma Gandhi’s most quoted quote goes: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’, we can all be a beacon of good words, a lighthouse of ‘niceness’, a mirror for appreciation.
When was the last time you paid a compliment? Our industry’s Beauty Advisors will be well versed in the power of a genuine compliment. Not only is it lovely to give, passing the pleasant words past our lips, it is truly lovely to see someone’s face appreciate your nice words. So often we’re shy or self-effacing about receiving a compliment but when it happens to you it’s worth smiling and acknowledging the gift of these special words when they are authentically said.
Realising the power of words, we can work their magic within us
From the minute we wake up we can think good words. Our minds can be negatively geared caused by all manner of conditions like stress, poor sleep quality, low blood sugar. As we wake so too does our inner gremlin. But if you can be one step ahead of him you can change the way you feel as you bring your day to life. It’s a conscious practice which you can set up the evening before. Go to bed reminding yourself of how you want to start the following day. I say ‘wake up get up’…before the self-criticism filters in, the not-enoughs, the dread of the workday ahead, that Monday morning feeling on a Wednesday, the gloom and doom. Get up before the inner dialogue wakes up. Before those negative wisps whip up a saga of past mistakes and loss. Even if you get back into bed with a delicious coffee or a yummy chai and you can indulge in a little reading or meditating, the ‘wake up get up’ can break the ruminating that comes from just lying in bed…thinking. As my mother used to quote her mother: “A little of what you like does you the world of good”. Your morning cuppa made and drunk with gratitude becomes a self-loving ritual.
Cultivating a practice of appreciation first thing in the morning gently softens the mind
This, in turn, tames the troubled tongue. Cultivating a practice of appreciation first thing in the morning gently softens the mind which in turn tames the troubled tongue. When you feel thankful, generous or kind it’s hard to speak badly of someone; pretty impossible to raise the F-word and easy to be inspired to praise, compliment and sing.
Whether you’re working on counter, in an office or on the road, when you have appreciation in your heart rising up to your mouth, the words that pass your lips will make you proud. Be genuine, authentic and have fun. And watch your mouth’s gatekeeper take a hike now he’s knee deep in loveliness and got nothing to do. Our task is to be a good human being, and speak as one.
Namaste my friends.