Recently, Harry (aka Bigjohnbird) and I stumbled across each other on StumbleUpon and because we had a mutual interest in Scotland we struck up an e-mail conversation. On one of the pages of his favorites, I noticed a story he had written and asked if I could use it in writing a post. I wanted to talk about words and how they’re conveyed and expressed. They make a difference in the perceptions of our truth and how we present ourselves to one another and to the world.

Here it is:

-posted by harry aka Bigjohnbird on Feb 11, 2008 (on StumbleUpon)

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.”

Both signs told people the boy was blind. While the first sign simply said the boy was blind, the second sign pointed the fortunate ones to their positive possibilities.

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. Invite the people towards good with wisdom.

This little story says so much in the importance of how we present ourselves, what we say and how we say it in order to get our message across effectively. It’s not just in our writing; it’s in everyday life in how we share with others our truth – what we’re all about. This man showed the blind boy how to state what he needed in a way that included the people walking by. They can’t relate to him in what it’s like to be blind but they can see the beautiful day. The words were simply and beautifully rewritten in a way as to join not separate.

There’s another point to think about in the importance of how our words are relayed and perceived. I think what’s confusing for us is that sometimes the words we read or hear don’t match what we see in body language; or the essence of what is supposed to be coming across in writing doesn’t match the words – it’s all jumbled up. For some reason, we hold back and stop the energy flowing from our true selves. We don’t fully tell the story of what’s going on, there’s a piece reserved. You don’t get that message from Stephen and Phil in using words to connect and inspire. In his latest post and interview with Phil Gerbyshak, Stephen Hopson who writes for the Adversity University blog expressed it perfectly when he said, “I don’t have the exact words for this, but something magical takes place when we dedicate ourselves to make the connection with others and in the process close the gap that society places upon us. Somehow when we see those gaps narrow, even a little bit, we feel uplifted. We feel like we matter. We feel like we’re actually making a difference. Yes, that’s what I’m trying to say. We want to feel as if what we are doing is making an impact not only on others but also on ourselves.”

Last Sunday, on a TV show called Sunday Morning we watched a piece on this new, young conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, a native of Venezuela. What came across the screen was someone with passion and life, not holding anything back with how he communed with the music, and through his conducting you could feel what he was feeling. The power and expression of his conducting connected everyone to the music.

So, what is this story telling us along with being kind and lending a hand? It’s telling us that our words are an extension of our truth and that there are many ways to share them and use them to engage others. Be fully expressive of who you are and not hold back, even a little, in letting the world know what you’re about and how you want to engage and connect to them.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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