Saying What You Are
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said "Say whatever words you will, you can never say anything but what you are." An experience today showed me how that changes conversation.
I love my job. In fact, I'm passionate about my job. When I talked with someone about it today, she could see the passion in my eyes and complimented me on my appreciation for music. The fact that I was so passionate about teaching and music led the conversation to be open to my question: "What about you? What's something you're passionate about?" Whereas she had been sitting at a 45- or even 90-degree angle to me, she turned to sit towards me square-on to tell me about her passion for cognitive behavioral therapy and her desire to help everyone know about CBT so it can improve the normal, everyday lives of people without mental disorders.
Because I really was passionate, I could speak in a way that was passionate, which gave her social permission to speak in a way that is passionate.
After a month of writing blog posts that seemed to meander throughout my day with some general theme, but without any clear through-line, I've decided to use this journal to get better at essay writing by making sure I have a clear point to make, specifically about extroversion. That point may only need one example from the day, it might use multiple examples from the day. But there will still be a point. And I'll try to write these more like essays, because I enjoy essays.
I love my job. In fact, I'm passionate about my job. When I talked with someone about it today, she could see the passion in my eyes and complimented me on my appreciation for music. The fact that I was so passionate about teaching and music led the conversation to be open to my question: "What about you? What's something you're passionate about?" Whereas she had been sitting at a 45- or even 90-degree angle to me, she turned to sit towards me square-on to tell me about her passion for cognitive behavioral therapy and her desire to help everyone know about CBT so it can improve the normal, everyday lives of people without mental disorders.
Because I really was passionate, I could speak in a way that was passionate, which gave her social permission to speak in a way that is passionate.
After a month of writing blog posts that seemed to meander throughout my day with some general theme, but without any clear through-line, I've decided to use this journal to get better at essay writing by making sure I have a clear point to make, specifically about extroversion. That point may only need one example from the day, it might use multiple examples from the day. But there will still be a point. And I'll try to write these more like essays, because I enjoy essays.
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