"Life and death are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21)
- Jonathan David Cain
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
I want us to stop and talk about the power of the voice. What we speak, we bring into being - good or bad. Lots of religions and philosophies share that idea. Vibrationally, we attract things to us or push them away. As a sister-friend of mine says, “The Universe listens and gives you what you ask for. It doesn’t judge. If you ask for it, you must want it.” Be careful. Be intentional.
How we speak to ourselves and how we speak to others matters. Maya Angelou once put someone out of her house during a party for telling off-color jokes. In her calm but firm way, she said she walked over to him and simply asked, “Did anyone ride with you?”...as she ushered him to her door.
“Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives, and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get into your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally into you.” Maya Angelou
We are seeing that today. How we are speaking to one another, about one another, and for one another is breathtaking. Before you go thinking I’m perfect..I’m not. I’ve fallen for some of the ugly societal bait myself.
Language (our voice) can bring us together and just as easily tear us apart. I’ve heard people I respected say some pretty crazy things this last year. I’ve heard people drop into some homophobic, xenophobic, fearmongering speech that made me go wide-eyed and occasionally into a rage – Yes, I own that I can become a razor-tongued beast when provoked. I’m trying to learn to breathe, not react, and not let those words stick to me as Mother Maya might advise. I can imagine that calm, deep, resonant voice of hers saying, “Baby, that’s not you. Don’t you pick it up. Chin up. Keep walking.” Weren’t we blessed to have her presence with us, and now her words remain to guide us. Maya Angelou was one of this generation's wise women. That’s why you’ll hear me refer to her as Mother Maya. We need to try to consider when we could say something snarky or unkind, through the three gates:
1. Is it true?
2. Is it needed?
3. Is it helpful?.... I would add
4) Does it lift up or tear down?
If what we have the urge to say cannot pass easily through all of these gates, keep it to yourself. Our words have the power to build up, tear down, agitate, or calm. We have (hopefully) been raised to not speak harshly to others, but were you taught not speak harshly to yourself?
I am my own worst critic and the one who can unsettle me faster than anyone else. It’s taken me a long time (still working on it) to catch myself as I slide into negative thoughts. It’s so easily done – make a simple mistake or oversight, and then I’m off to the races. Mix that in with a little functional depression and a dash of anxiety, and presto! I’ve ruined a perfectly good day for me and maybe messed yours up, too.
I wish I were perfect. Don’t you? It’s just a thing we have to recognize and work on if we struggle with a negative internal dialogue. One suggestion I’ve been given is to catch myself when I’m ‘whooping my own butt’ is to stop, realize what I’m doing, and ask where that thought came from (shame, fear, feeling inadequate…). Then, refute it - “Yes, I may have made a mistake. I’m human. Am I tired? Hungry? Sleepy? Did I know better? If so, what made me choose to act in that way?” Stop. Sometimes, I have to say to my internal voice, “That’s a lie.” Counteract it with good thoughts about who you are at your soul's core.
Our voices are powerful things for others and for ourselves – I pray we learn to use ours with humility, compassion, and love. Also, remember that sometimes we need to raise it against injustice, and, as the late Civil Rights Activist and US Congressman John Lewis would say, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
Love and light, my babies!
Jonathan Cain is a native of Florence, Alabama, and has served as the Curator of the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia, AL, since January 2020. He held that role for several years before leaving to pursue a career in education. He holds an undergraduate degree in graphic design from the University of North Alabama and graduate degrees from both the University of Mississippi (MFA – Sculpture) and the University of North Alabama (MA – Clinical Mental Health). He is an eclectic artist who likes to pursue many different media.
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