Day #28
Finding the Words
It’s easy to imagine that the words we know just sit in our heads, waiting to be used. Like a box of Lego waiting to be built.
But the things we say tend to come partly pre-assembled. We find ways to explain ideas, trying out different ways of saying it, until something sticks, and then we tend to repeat it. This is efficient. It’s part of how we learn: finding our vocabulary.
I find this when i am presenting work: some ideas are new, and i still struggle to find the right words, whilst others just come out in stories and phrases that i know well.
There are two things to notice in this: the first is that we may trapped in these legacy stories. We may need to consider how we evolve our language (and underlying ideas). The second is that we may need to be mindful of finding space and opportunity to ‘find our words’, and to try new ones.
Use your sixty seconds today to as yourself two questions:
Can you identify phrases, or words that you use frequently - perhaps to describe things you believe in, or want, or the ideas that sit behind them?
Can you identify new words you are starting to use, or ideas that you have but are unable, as yet, to articulate really easily.
If you are able to identify either of these things, you could start to ask yourself when, and how, to evolve that language. To find new words.