Choosing Sincere over Shallow

//Twenty thousand words we speak in a given day.
I can’t help but wonder: “How many of them fall weightless?”
Between the “Hi! How are you?”s and “I’m great, and you?”s–how many of our words actually carry sincerity, depth and meaning?

Do you ever find yourself speaking just to keep the air from feeling empty and silent? Using words as the excuse to avoid the awkward? Uttering thoughtless common phrases to avoid vulnerability, pity and to preserve our pride?

Weightless words keep our hearts heavy and our souls aching for more meaningful sentences filled with honesty, reality and transparency. Shallow conversations flow easy from our lips, while our hearts beat on the walls of our chest, “Tell them how I’m REALLY doing!”

Twenty thousand words we speak in a day—how many words of others are we really listening to?

What if twenty thousand words turned to ten thousand words? What if half the time we spend using weightless words were used instead to bear the weight of others through listening? What if those ten thousand words were spoken honestly, sincerely and with truth, giving others permission to use their words to lift weights off their weary hearts?

Twenty thousand words we speak in a given day.
And I still can’t help but wonder: “How can I give my words weight to help lift weights off others?//

**This post is a part of a blogging community called Five Minute Friday. The aim is to free write for five minutes on a word prompt. Want to join the party? Hop on over to www.fiveminutefriday.com! **