You Always Have Something Inspiring To Say
Disclaimer: The whole idea of ‘The Most/Best Thing’ is a bit silly. It reinforces silly ideas of competition and hierarchy. We could list inspiring people all day. I’ve seen Charles Eisenstein talk on The More Beautiful World, Saul Williams do spoken word, Andrea Gibson light up stages, Amanda Palmer on generosity, countless others as powerful, and thousands of people in my workshops, who were all ‘The Most/Best’ in their own way.
But…if I had to pick anything I ever heard as ‘Most Inspiring’, it might pick this, because for me it captures the essence of powerful speaking….
……it was one of those night where everything seems lit-up from the inside and the air itself is richer. It was the final few moments of a workshop I was giving in Dublin, How to Always Feel Amazing Onstage.
I’d given people a bunch of techniques to tap into inspiration as a mind-body flow state, and that almost exalted blend of not giving a fuck what people think about you, while at the same time giving your heart and soul to genuinely connecting and serving.
Towards the end, I got everyone to go round the room shaking hands, grinning, and telling each other “I am not here to please you, impress or interest you, or do anything to convince you of my worth as a human being!” There was a lot of laughter and some tears. Moment by moment you could see people stepping into their power. Imagine if we remembered this is true.
Who would you say it to?: “I am not here to win your approval!”
The energy in the room was incredible; shy strangers had turned into this gang of bright eyed majestic looking types. They were captivating. The truth about human beings, which includes you, is once we drop all the weird rules we impose on ourselves, we become effortlessly powerful. But what about the ‘most inspiring thing?’ I hear you wail with almost unbearable curiosity. I’m getting to it….
…I invited people to make Single Sentence Speeches. Any topic. The only guideline was to feel great as they spoke, and share that feeling with us in every word. People stood. People spoke. They said many wise, warm words. Every speech was a bright human gem.
Then this guy stood up. Let’s call him Jimmy Butler (because that’s his name.) He stood there. He looked at us. He opened his mouth. He closed it. He opened it again, then said:
“I wish I could think of something beautiful to say!”
It was honest, vulnerable and direct. He didn’t say it apologetically, or in a needy way. He said it with a kind of desperate, tender smiling genius. In other words, beautifully. Meaning he did say something beautiful, by expressing his feeling that he couldn’t.
I’m amazed how often people beautifully express something, and then say they don’t know how to say it. If you feel doubts, if you mean two things at once, if you don’t really know, then all that is part of what you have to say. Part of the richness of it, the gift.
A lot of people said a lot of great stuff. An extremely hot woman told me I was ‘a giant.’ Which was quite pleasing. But Jimmy’s words were by far the most inspiring thing anyone said that night. Maybe any night. I’ll never forget them.
Sometimes us personal growth-y types can get into repeating wise words like we’re showing off a psycho-spiritual stamp collection. As though it means something!
There’s no need. No need to be wise, or unique or certain. It’s a thousand times more powerful to be honestly ourselves, whatever that means in each moment.
The thing is, all the wise stuff, you can find it on Google. We kinda know it all already. Yes, it’s great to remind ourselves and each other. But our job as speakers, and in life in general, is not to tell people stuff. Cos people know stuff. And people telling each other stuff doesn’t necessarily change much of anything at all.
I catch myself doing it, and strive to drop it, strive to only offer ideas when I feel they serve the moment. When we speak, we want to ‘give the moment what it wants.’ And what it wants is the messy, magnificent truth, not our polished notions.
You always have something inspiring to say, because just by voicing whatever is going on within you with passion, emotion and honesty, you invite everyone else to do the same.
You can be inspiring talking about how uninspired you are.
You can be confident talking about your insecurity.
You can be courageous talking about your terror.
You can be profoundly clear, talking about your profound confusion.
Our job is to connect to what is alive in us, in the room, in the people gathered together, and to speak from that place. To make what we say matter by infusing it with the ooonmph not of ideas, but of our hearts. When we do that, the wise stuff can work wonders. If we don’t, we’d be better off reading the ingredients from a crisp packet, but with every ounce of heart and soul we can.
Let’s talk about it: What are you inspired to talk about right in your life and work? Why? And can you see how to make it inspiring? Share in the comments. If you’re still not convinced, don’t worry, I’m going to write ten practical ways in which you can always be inspiring soon.
Originally published at www.speakingrocks.life.
