There, there, he said.  The universe is not all suffering and sadness.  There is much happiness in the thing.  Isn’t there, Nephew.  There is joy, and there is music, and there is spirit.  Yes, I said, all these things.  It is a beautiful universe.*
(Alan Lightman)

When you remove your meaningless words, the power of your words go up.**
(Seth Godin)

We know the power of words, able to break or make, to close doors or open possibilities.

(Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens makes for fascinating reading about how we play with words, for example, ‘Greek tradition has numerous traces  of ceremonial and festal slanging matches.^)

What words want to come into being?

As you listen to the other person speaking words you may have heard so many times before, perhaps playing out the same old same old, or, sharing their pain or hope, what words do you want to bring into being?  Words that may make it possible for the other to hear new words wanting to be birthed?

In this moment, you have the power to change everything.

(*The characters Uncle Deva and Nephew in Alan Lightman’s Mr g.)
(**From Seth Godin’s blog: Meaningless.)
(^From Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens.)