All our words
are but crumbs
that fall down
from the feast of the mind. 
Kahil Gibran

Which crumbs get chosen?–How we choose them, if we choose them—words are so critical to who we are and what we think. We say so many things, often words just are shot out of our mouths without our full consciousness. There is a premium put on speed of response and whatever is pre-loaded, pre-fabricated–not pre-meditated–sprays forth. Words fly out of our open pieholes unwittingly. We say things, important things, with no connection to heart or mind. Empty habits of sounds that we neither hear or feel just fly out of our face like an AK 47 strafing the air indiscriminately. 
 
Most of the time we are in our fog of life where we go through motions, say words, make decisions, and unwittingly set the courses of our lives. 
 
We fire off our cannons enamored with the booms but disinterested in the targets. 
 
We are what we say.
 
Sometimes we try to retrieve a flock of bats that escape the cave, flying in regret formation. We later say “I had to eat my words.” Usually refers to the bitter taste of being wrong. Swallowing one’s pride and gagging on the foul reflux of crow or the pungency of humble pie. 
  
What if the words we say were delicious? What if we curated words so that we consciously uttered tasty syllables? Words with fiber, complexity and real flavor. 
 
Of course this takes our full awareness. Just as in eating, when we rush and never really savor the food we love–when we chew and swallow in a hasty transactional fashion that make the chefs cry.
 
I had a powerful conversation with Akuyoe Graham, the founder of Spirit Awakening. She is an award winning performer who has dedicated her life to helping at-risk youth. One of the many keys to her success and the success of her program is coaching these young people to tell their own stories well. To craft a narrative that authentically conveys their life arc. 
 
Akuyoe speaks with passion and she articulates, pronounces, enunciates her words so beautifully. I assumed it was her stage training, but I learned how centered she is–how connected to her heart her words are.
 
Her presence mentored me. It showed me how someone connected to the present looks and sounds. 
 
We were talking and she said, “John your words sound so delicious. I like it when you speak like that.” I felt I was talking like I always talked. But she made me realize how important it was to pair my words with my feelings. To literally taste the words. To be with the words. It was noticeable to Akuyoe. She revealed a great truth to me. 
 
I am often more clued into people’s eyes. They are windows into which I see connection, energy, and authenticity. But words are formed in the mind and are released into the air to breathe life into our ideas and identity.
 
For the last few years, I have been desperately and erratically slowing down to taste my words. To hear them and make notes of the accuracy and alignment with my intentions. I write more. Every day. To work on my words. To align my thoughts with my heart. To speak truth to myself and then to others. 
 
By words we learn thoughts, and by thoughts we learn life.– Jean Baptiste Girard 
 
I listen better too. To the words being thrown my way. I watch to see if they taste what they are saying. It is so obvious–the facial expression, the curl of the lip, the eyes and the inflection. These non-verbals say so much about the genuine connection between the phonetical sound manipulations and the truth. 
 
I talk to many people about their plans, their “dreams”, their destinations. Most of these people say words that are blander than melba toast. 
 
How do our words taste when we talk about ourselves or the future? 
 
Too often we use words that are safe, leave us room for error or escape, non-committal thoughts that give us options, politically correct, non-offensive words that are empty and flavorless. 
 
These words also disable the network of opportunity and connections to commonality. 
  
All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind. Kahlil Gibran 
 
Find those crispy, chewy, morsels of meaning and say something delicious. 

Thanks for reading. John

Edited from my popular 2018 post