word world

"The syntactical nature of reality, the real secret of magic, is that the world is made up of words.  And, if you know the words that the world is made of, you can make of it whatever you wish."
                   - Terence McKenna


what do you wish to make of it?  what ARE you making of it?


let us examine this example taken from a (sweet, yummy, amazing) friend's Facebook status update:
"disheartened by the nasty non-recyclable aseptic nut milk containers and the volume i was consuming in my daily Dope Ass Smoothie routine, i've taken to making my own."


(and, thank you, dear, sweet friend, for loving your planet and yourself enough to model this inspired action)


AND...how does it feel when we word it like this:
"inspired and excited to lighten the load on my/our beautiful planet, i've taken to making my own nut milk - no containers to (not) recycle, no preservatives around which to pray. yay!"


...ahhhhh, infinitely more uplifting, yes?


again, i ask you: what are you making of it?


love, love, love from Taos...dani

gossip...

I hugged a friend with whom I'd unexpectedly crossed paths, as she said: "I was just talking about you..." and then added, quickly:  "It was all good stuff."

I had no response, as I hadn't assumed anything different.  Why would I assume the worst?  If I'm missing information, and left to imagine the holes filled even and sanded smooth, I assume the best, because it feels the best, and it vibrates the highest, and it's probably even the truth.  Why is it our default to assume the worst of one another, and to defend our third party information sharing with assurances of our good intent, as though to speak well of someone in their absence is an anomaly?

Maybe it has something to do with that third party information sharing habit that is our cultural pastime, which is itself caustic and destructive.  Gossip, hearsay - all that juicy, time-wasting, space-filling nonsense about so many absent others that may or may not be true - is wickedly viral and vicious in its spreading, pollinating lies and opinions passed off as empirical reality, as fact, through filters of individual wounds and issues and perspectives; sullying reputations, tarnishing the field, and eroding trust, community and friendship in its careless passing.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

                                                                            - Eleanor Roosevelt

Let us be great, shall we?  It's time.

declarative sentences are the new black.

etymology...

terrific.
terrify.
hmmmm...

Back to the Basics: Try

We've all heard it before:  


Don't try; do.  


Still, that insidious little cop-out of a verb continues to infiltrate our vocabulary, inadvertently holding us back, slowing us down and cramping our style.


Try introduces the possibility of failure into the scenario in question.  It transmits doubt.  


"We're trying to get this project off the ground."


"I'm trying to quit smoking."


"What I'm trying to say is..."


Notice how weak these sentences/phrases are.  Do you feel the efforting laden in the first sound bite?  The hurdles, the chaos and the blocks?  Would you invest money in his mission?  Do you associate speaker 2 as a smoker, or a non-smoker?  Is person 3 presenting themselves as an effective communicator, or are they acknowledging their failure?


And so we see how this seemingly innocuous try is a tiny, yet powerful and effective means of self-sabotage.


I repeat:  Don't try; do.

a few words on "should"

Plenty of people are running rebel consciousness in some form or another, which renders them less open to being told what to do then, say, Virgos, religious fanatics or children.  Some folks, the author included, shut down when being told what to do, thus making themselves unavailable for whatever message may trail the otherwise well-intentioned heels of the casually dropped “should”.  As long as we’re expending the energy to communicate, doesn’t it make sense to support ourselves in being heard?  Should resonates at a despotic, tyrannical frequency that causes contraction in the receiver (i.e. the people we're talking to).  It’s infinitely more difficult to throw a ball through a tiny slit than a gaping hole.  Opting to employ words that expand the receiver makes it infinitely easier for them to hear and integrate our messages, and for us deliver them. 

Besides, a healthy third chakra isn’t interested in bossing anyone else around.  Free will’s way more fun.