I want to write to you today about words.
Yep, words.
And not just 4-letter ones either, though often they are my favourites 😉.
You see, today I sat here a full 45 minutes pondering the blank page before me, conjuring some sort of magic to pour forth from my fingertips and produce words on this page.
Would I write some words about the Year of the Pig? It’s Chinese New Year this week after all (at the time of writing this). Would I tell a tale about how Lunar New Year always feels like the “real” New Year to me, and how I routinely find myself releasing deep, deep emotions the days prior to this auspicious occasion, always to find myself feeling rested and ready when the New Year commences?
Or would I share a few words about how, in the spirit of the New Year, our Trio of Orange, Liston, and Dew are readying our new website for release? Would I share with you the myriad of emotions that I felt as I read the latest iteration of our website copy? Would I talk about the tears… the relief… the joy… the way I exhaled, closing my eyes, letting it all sink in, relishing in the Good Work that had been placed before me?
Or would I write a word or two about the twist of fate that brought eight magnificent women together for a Virtual Tea Party last week during which we discussed the coming Year, and what it meant for each of us? Would I share how we talked about our collective Coming Out, about how we each felt as though this Year was asking us to Come Out and Be in The World and Our Work in ways we had not yet dared even speak of?
And would I add some more words to tell you that, after that Tea Party, I called Stella, excitedly, and told her that I had indeed “Known” this year was to be a Coming Out for so many of the people that we know, love, and serve, and that I was at once delighted and overcome by the conversation we had all shared about it at the Tea Party?
Would I tell you these things today? What else might I say?
Stella always talks about how “words create worlds.”
I often suspected it was the copy writer in her that had her pondering such things… but then I got to thinkin’: What if she’s on to something there?
What if what I am writing, the words that I am sharing with you today, are, indeed, creating (gulp) our world?!?
What if there’s something that I’ve written that makes you go “hmmm…” and causes you to shift your own perspective?
What if the words I use simply have you nodding along, “Oh yes, I noticed that, too!”?
Is it possible that even the words that I use in this wee newsletter are capable – willing, even – to create something new within you, as they do within me? Is that where the “world” that our words create is born? Is it first created from within us and does it then move outward from there?
And if that’s so, then just how far does it go?!?!?
“You gave me the words I needed to feel within me the strength of the work I do. It’s made all the difference in the world to me.” (Copy writing client to me, last week.)
“I read what you wrote last week, that thing about Becoming? It changed me somehow. Not sure what that’s all about, but thought you’d like to know.” (Newsletter reader to me, two weeks ago.)
“Ever since we did that piece together, where you gave me those words to say to my clients when they’re in crisis? Yeah, it’s weird, but I’m using those words all the time now, even with the kids. That sh*t really works.” (Client to me, yesterday.)
Words.
Just words.
Words creating worlds, right here, right now, on my little computer screen in London-Town.
I’m going to leave you with that, Dear Reader… and with the invitation to share with me how you think about your words, and the world that they’re creating for you. And, indeed, for all of us.
I suspect that I’ve only just touched the tip of the iceberg on this one…
