The Nuance Of Language and How It Contributes To Our Health By coach jo berry

The famous civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez, once said, “Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.” At its core, language is the system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. Most people will view language as ‘ just the way that we talk to each other.’ Language, however, extends waaaaay beyond just what is spoken ( and written) . It is the words we put out and the interaction between two that is literally the landscape of our lives. throw nonverbal communication in there and this leads us to see how language truly does reflect the speaker.

Why is the ‘ nuance of language’ so important at RUNClub? So many reasons. The most important is to truly study ( together) how our language creates health or disease in ourselves and in our relationships ( all of them). Yes, language “ IS” us and language “IS” life.

Learning about ourselves (or better yet, unlearning) gives us an outstanding opportunity to shift into healthier places. This learning (and unlearning) never stops in our lifetime. Communication is an acquired skill and a huge part of the puzzle to our outer landscape. Our language reveals to us two things: Why our lives are working and/or why they are NOT. RUNClub tribe, you are open to all the deep dives that can make a difference for ourselves as individuals; as a community and as osmosis out to our friends, families, coworkers, and the world. Here we can spend time in our emotional landscape to make a big difference in our health and the health of others.

We all have the capability to exhibit language that vibrates at the highest frequency. By ‘practicing’ reliably and consistently this ‘human skill’ of language changes everything. Just like some of us can barely make toast and others have perfected crème brûlée, there is a vast continuum of knowledge and mastery over language (and body language as well). Shall we keep leaning into the Creme Brulee of healthy living? I say YES!

Gentle reminder: Our emotional fitness is not about criticizing ourselves, or each other (ever). This is a safe place for us to “move” into healthier realms, explore, learn and grow to enhance our health and wellbeing. Becoming more & more ‘awake’ is a super fun, playful and wonderful way to live. Here are a few suggestions for this week's emotional fitness playwork.
​

1. Listening (no words!) | The greatest gift we can give anyone? Drum roll: Listening. Start to watch yourself and your ability (or inability) to listen. There will be sharing on this in our HUB.
   
   
2. Useful Talk | Blaming, criticizing, complaining, and being in a victim mentality can be described well as “useless talk.” These energies deplete us of our energy and wire our brains in sub-optimal ways. Use useful talk instead. Try going complaint free, or even removing certain words from your vocabulary. ( eg - the nots, nevers, nos, - words that are scarcity words).
   
   
3. Word Choice | Research shows that having the ability to make word choices produces much higher (and healthier) outcomes. Instead of saying “I should/ would/could’ swapping it to “I get to”, “I will”, “I am” (oh so much more on I AM statements coming)! Watch out for scarcity sentences like: “I can’t afford that / I have no time (oh boy, more on this too) and I am soooo busy (let’s not glamorize busy anymore).
   
   
4. High vibrational words vs Low vibrational words | High vibrational: gratitude, blessings, thank yous, compliments, kind words. Low vibrational: swearing, “but’s”, “strong opinions”, and of course, “gossiping”.

Now all of this being said, an important question: are we all perfect in the nuances and behaviours of language? Answer - uh, no ! We are human. We slip, slide and slip again. Our goal together is to slip, slide less and less through “practice”, watch all the magic and miracles that happen in our lives. The goal: more health, more happiness, more calm, more peace and living a big healthy juicy life! We are BETTERTOGETHER. Thank you for practicing together ! See you INSIDE the HUB - our place to connect, share, learn and grow.

​-- Love, Coach Jo