In my blog two weeks ago, Thoughts on building up your public speaking confidence, I talked about one way of overcoming the fear of speaking in front of people, joining #Toastmasters. I loved the response from @Anesh Daya on #LinkedIn, who commented that people can practise by “taking language to the streets.” In other words, every moment is an opportunity to practise.
As hatred spews around us and acts of violence increase, we can use our voices to spread messages of compassion, unity and non-violence.
We can clarify our thoughts, listen with attention, breathe deeply and use every moment, to practise the words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs that embrace others and make us whole. We can take language to the streets, talking with everyone we can to build self-confidence and simultaneously create trust and respect.
The sounds will never be perfect, so don’t wait for perfection. There’s no such thing. What we strive for is clarity of intention, intelligibility, connection, and the power of empathy, compassion and love.
The spoken word is potent. With practice, we can use it to motivate others. And in motivating others, we continually recreate, in ourselves, the motivation to keep going.
For a smile in dark times, check out this week’s one-minute word at The Canadian Pronunciation Coach YouTube.
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