What steps can you take, so that you can speak your truth, and be heard?
Through all my years of clinical practice, I’ve found that speaking your truth is singularly the most important action you can take to cultivate confidence, authenticity, and resilience. The changes are profound – better brain health, confidence, deeper relationships, impact and influence on others, and limitless opportunities depending on what you ask for or say. Yet it’s hard to imagine any of those possibilities if you can’t seem to get the words out. This is a theme I will return to in future posts.
Consider whether anyone has ever spoken with you about talking more or about the strength and volume of your voice. It is important for you to start recognizing how it could make a difference to the people with whom you want to connect as well as learning about the impact that speaking up can have on your self-confidence.
Speaking up means letting people hear what you are thinking and feeling. There is one guideline though . . . and that guideline is to speak from a positive, kind and well-intentioned place. Saying things you really mean does not give you license to be cruel, even if you think your newly expressed ideas might help someone else. Remember, positive, kind and well-intended.
If you have been reluctant to speak up, you may be interested in the speaking strategy below. Start by using it with people in your close family or friend circle. It’s called: “Turning Up the Volume of Your Thoughts.”
Like others to whom I suggest this, you might be thinking “I don’t know what to say”. But I rarely accept this statement outright because, in my experience, most people have thoughts in mind and know what they want to say.
Countless thoughts constantly swirl inside our heads, like our own personal radio show broadcasting within. We might hear snippets of songs, provide running commentary about things we see, or replay old arguments—and that’s the short list. It’s not surprising that we keep our thoughts to ourselves since it’s been deeply ingrained in us to “think before you speak.” The trouble is we stop at the thinking part and never get to the speaking!
Now, I want you to imagine that your thoughts are songs. Right now, you have the ear buds plugged in; only you can hear the songs. Now, to share the ‘song’ of your thoughts, put it on speaker, turn up the volume, and share that ‘music’ with others.
My focus in the coming weeks are for you to:
- Make a commitment to speak up more with friends, family, or coworkers.
- Ask those within your close personal circle to help you speak more by signaling you if they haven’t hear you speak.
Within weeks of continued practice, and reminders that speaking up not only helps you, but helps the people around you see and hear you in a different way, you will start to feel the results that come with “Turning Up the Volume of Your Thoughts”.
Wishing you the best,
Dr. Joan Rosenberg
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