Every Thursday, I provide simple tips to help you create more pauses — with a generous sprinkling of humor — in 5 minutes or less.

Words Matter

By early 2022, I had been managing my first community, Empathic.Health, for a year.

I was still learning the ropes of “working full-time” with and around spiritual people.

I remember a seemingly ordinary call with my friend, Gina, who responded to my "good morning" with a greeting I had heard her use before:

This time, I was intrigued enough to explore this strange concoction of words.

I respectfully asked why she said these words to me, and below is her reply as best as my memory serves (Better yet, below is what stuck with me, whether it was her reply or not).

Gina explained how “good morning” wasn’t representative of what she wanted to communicate.

"Grand" rather than "good": She believes each day is a magnificent gift, not just passably good.

"Rising" instead of "Morning": She emphasized rising in strength, akin to the Sun. Alternatively, the body registers “morning” the same as “mourning”, because words are just vibrations we make with one of our face holes (Gina probably didn’t say this).

I tend to be a logical thinker, and I saw no flaws in her argument reasoning.

In fact, I felt the same. “Grand rising!” felt much more representative of what I truly wanted to communicate to people, compared to “Good morning.”

With Gina providing me the awareness of something I wanted to be, I could begin the journey of making it so.

And if you feel more like a “Grand Rising!” person but don’t know how to embody it, I’ll tell you there’s only one step. It’s the hardest step, and the easiest step:

Standing out up.

A way to speak your truth

Now that I’ve given you the awareness Gina gave me, the only thing preventing you from better expressing how you truly feel is the fear of standing out.

And I’m right there with you, that fear is TOUGH to overcome. I still often say “good morning” because of it.

But when I can move through that fear, I feel empowered as hell heaven when I let out a hearty “Grand rising!”

Because it’s a time I chose standing out up for my truth.

In sum:

1. I hope this newsletter will help you stand up for your truth <3

2. I encourage you to find one situation this week strong where you can amend your words to better speak your truth!

3. Grand fucking rising y’all.

😄 Funny Business

📊 Community Poll

Results for last week’s question: When eating, do you save your favorite part for last or eat it first?

Pretty evenly split! There’re good times for all these approaches, depending on the situation. I personally tend to go back and forth. It makes each time feel like the first time with the good stuff.

On to this week’s question…

How I can help:

"First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak." - Epictetus