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Imperative pointing says “I want that” or “gimme that.”
Declarative pointing says “Let us consider this.”
Interestingly, Chimpanzees can point imperatively, but only humans point declaratively and share their attention of the world. We work together to shape how we see the world.
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With all of our behavioral and cognitive science, with our best practices psychology, there is always a better way to soft serve facts to people. No one is ever "wrong." Instead you made a decision that was right for you in the moment, or you were lacking a vital piece of information.
Our language is really a version of influence marketing.
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To confuse skills with career is common. To confuse nationalism and patriotism is common. To confuse passion with love is common. To confuse value and worth is common.
As Timothy Snyder says: be kind to our language. Be precise. Avoid clichés.
When our medium of communication becomes casually abused and twisted we can feel the trap, but do not have the concept (accessibly contained in language) to push back.
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We can use the words to parrot the phrases shaped like wisdom.
To entwine the wisdom with your soul, how many repetitions and reflections are needed? We can all be forgiven for a bit of mimicry when finding our footing on the path.
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Your stress management is not removing stress: it is delaying it while stoking the embers.
To douse it, change your story.
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If I can talk about something (anything) it goes much further much quicker than even writing it down.
I thought journaling was a super-power, but talking through anything is twice as powerful.
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Throwing in your opinion when you are not sure where it will lead is folly.
